Fusion 5
by 00zags
Summary: [Axess AU, literally] Dr. Regal's newest plot causes five unknowns to step up and defend their town. Oh yes, and by the way... their town isn't anywhere near Electopia... In fact, the Net doesn't even exist there... R&R pleasey please.
1. Cold Trail

Heyo all, it's me again, your favorite JJM! Some of you may know that I am currently in the middle of another Megaman fic. Well, this one takes place around that one but for the most part is in a different place. Where exactly, may you ask? Ha ha, now there's a question, isn't there.

Just a warning, there is a lot a lot of techy BS in this fic, especially in the beginning, so don't mention it in the reviews. Hey, you know how it is, right? You get a great idea and then you have to bend the rules of reality to make it work. So just be ready for some stuff that's really… out there.

Tameranian Angel: (pops out of nowhere) You can say that again.

JJM: So just be ready for some… (notices TA) Gah! Where did you come from!

TA: Nowhere. It says so, right up there. (points to previous line in parenthesis)

JJM: Get out of here; this is my fic, not a co-write, repeat, MY FIC!

TA: Yea, but I made up some of the characters for it.

JJM: Only two, I'll give you credit for that. NOW LEAVE!

TA: OK, OK, I'm going. Geez… (leaves)

Anyways, let's get this thing started and hopefully, you-know-who won't interrupt us again. (crosses fingers so as not to jinx it) So now, without further ado, I give you… aw, forget it! ROLL FILM… or text, that works too. Oh, by the way… yea, I know, I'm killin' you ain't I… the italicized paragraphs are being said by our narrator… you'll find out who he is later on.

OK, _now_ we can get on with it. Here's the fic and enjoy.

* * *

_You know how in certain movies there's that one guy? The guy who always dreams of doing something big or being a hero? And then finally one day the chance comes up and he's not so sure he wants to be a hero anymore? Well, now you know how I feel. Sure, I always wanted to be a hero, that's why I went getting myself into all these situations. Nothing big, just getting cats out of trees, telling someone to buzz off. You know, sticking up for the little guy. But now me and my four friends…well, actually my three friends and another guy… are in the hugest jam of our short lives and I'm the one who got us into it… trying to play the hero. But maybe before we get to that I should probably explain exactly how we got here. It all started a long way from here, in some bad guy's lair…

* * *

_

**Regal's lair**

Dr. Regal was up to something; that much was certain. For the past week, he had locked himself in a room, allowing no one to disturb him. Ms. Yuri wasn't one to argue. But the long wait was getting to her. Nothing was happening anywhere. How long did it take to come up with a new plan? Dr. Regal always seemed to have thousands in reserve, but now apparently he had run out. Either that or it was just taking a long time to execute his latest one, she reasoned. The latter choice was right.

When he finally emerged, Ms. Yuri stood by quietly, awaiting instruction. He walked to his chair carrying a small piece of equipment, which he attached to the controls for the dimensional area generators. For a while, he made connections, tapped at keys, and peered at a small screen by him. Eventually, Ms. Yuri had to say something. "Well…"

Without looking up from what he was doing, Dr. Regal responded. "Are you familiar with the theory of other dimensions?"

Ms. Yuri kept her surprise well hidden. "Fairly."

"Well, I have just proven it," Dr. Regal said, finally looking up, a small smile on his face. "The term 'dimensional area' has just taken a more literal meaning."

"You mean, there actually are other dimensions out there?"

"Yes, and I can send dimensional areas to them. Do you know what that means?"

Ms. Yuri thought for a moment. "Universal domination?" she ventured.

"Not quite, humans can't go through these dimensional portals. But it does mean that I can send Darkloids in to get the resources we need for the battle here… and no one will be able to stop them!"

A smile slowly appeared on Ms. Yuri's face. He had finally hit on an unbeatable plan. There was nothing that could keep Nebula from taking over the world now.

Dr. Regal was thinking the same thing. Just try and stop me, Hikari! Not even your son Lan and his navi Megaman will be able to stop me this time!

* * *

**Scilab**- One week later

Lan stretched his arms out above him and yawned. Chaud glanced over at him from where he was working, and then continued what he was doing. The newest Net Saver, Lee, glanced up from his slouched position on a couch. Lan finished stretching and settled back into a comfortable position. After a moment of silence, Lan suggested, "Wanna Netbattle?" Both Chaud and Lee rolled their eyes at the suggestion.

"You've already beaten me ten straight times today alone," Lee groaned, "and each of those battles took twenty minutes at least. Besides, I think our navis need a break."

From his PET, Cypher, Lee's navi, whispered a heartfelt "Thank you."

Lan stood up and started pacing. "But I don't need a break! I need something to do!" he complained.

"Why don't you help Chaud?" Megaman suggested.

Chaud quickly eliminated the possibility. "No thanks, you'd just get in the way."

Lee got up as well and stretched. "What are you working on anyway?"

"Trying to find out what Regal's up to." Chaud said, still staring out the screen in front of him. Both Lan and Lee moved behind him to get a better look. "This quiet has gone on too long for my liking. Two weeks is a long time to go between Nebula attacks. Either Regal's given up, which I seriously doubt, or he's planning something."

"It's been too quiet for me, too," Lan agreed.

"Yea, it's been quiet," Lee said. "Except for Lan snoring," he muttered. Cypher snickered.

Lan glared at him but didn't say anything. He didn't have time to because his dad came in. "Any luck yet, Chaud?" he asked.

Chaud shook his head. "Nothing that points directly to Nebula, but I did find one thing of interest."

"Oh, and what's that?"

Chaud pointed to the information on the screen. "There have been a lot of energy fluctuations in a concentrated area throughout the past week or so."

Dr. Hikari frowned. "That is strange. We'll have to investigate further. Why don't you send Megaman in to scope out the situation?"

Lan leapt up. "Yes! Something to do! Finally!"

"Alright calm down," Chaud said. "Here's the location." He handed him a slip of paper he had just printed out. "Just go and have a look around; don't do anything rash."

"Sure," Lan said rushing out of the room.

"Well, I might as well go train some more," Lee said. He caught Chaud and Dr. Hikari staring at him. "What?" Lee sighed. "Fine, I'll go too, just to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." He walked out calling after Lan. "Wait up! It'll still be there in ten minutes!"

* * *

The information led them to an old warehouse on the edge of town. "Hello?" Lan called as they entered.

"I don't think anyone's here," Lee observed. "It doesn't look as though anyone's been here for quite a while. Look at all the dust on those crates." He pointed to a stack in the corner.

Lan was more interested in something on the wall next to the crates. "An old thermostat! Let's jack in from here." He pulled out his PET. "Ready, Megaman?"

"Sure."

"Jack in! Megaman, power up!"

"Our turn," Lee said. "Jack in! Cypher, power up!"

The two navis materialized in the dark and gloomy Cyberworld of the warehouse's old heating system. Megaman glanced around his surroundings. "I think Lee's right. This place hasn't used in a while."

"Which explains why it feels so cold in here," Lee said, shivering a little.

"Start looking around, Megaman. And here's something to help! Search Soul, Navi chip in, download!"

"Nice…" Cypher said admiringly as Megaman transformed into Search Soul.

"Thanks," Megaman said smiling. "Now let's get to work." The visor slipped down into place as Megaman began scanning the area.

Cypher began scanning through his own visor. "What exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" he asked, peering into the dimness.

"For starters, you could look for the 'ON' switch!" Lee said, clearly freezing at this point.

"Hey, you're right," Lan said. "It is getting a little chilly in here. I can see my breath."

"I think I just found out why," Megaman reported. "Darkloid dead ahead. It's Fridgeman!"

"Very nice!" Cypher said, rubbing his hands together. "The only Aqua type Darkloid and they send him here to me. How considerate!" Cypher, of course, is an Elec type.

"Guys, we're not here to fight," Lee reminded them. "We're only supposed to scope out the situation. He must be guarding something; there's no other possible reason for why he would be here."

"Yea, but guarding what?" Lan wondered. "Megaman, do you see anything else?"

"There's some kind of tunnel behind Fridgeman, but I can't see where it leads. We'd have to take him out in order to get a closer look."

"Take him out? You came to the right navi! It'll only take a sec." With that, Cypher slipped off.

"Cypher, come back!" Megaman said in the loudest whisper he could.

But Cypher had his own plan in mind. Dodging from cover to cover, he got closer and closer to Fridgeman without alerting him.

"Oh, geez," Lee groaned. "Why does he have to keep doing stuff like this? Well, I might as well help him out. Area Steal, battlechip in, download!"

Cypher suddenly warped from a few feet away from Fridgeman to right on top of him. Literally. He landed on Fridgeman's head. "Hey! What the--" Fridgeman started to say, but Cypher didn't give him a chance to finish.

He placed his hands on either side of Fridgeman's head. "Elec Spread!" Volt after volt of electricity went straight from Cypher's hands into Fridgeman. Before long…

_Fridgeman, logging out._

Lee let out a huge breath. "I can feel the temperature going up now. Good work, Cypher."

Cypher merely stood up and smirked as Megaman dashed over to join him, coming out of Search Soul. "What did you think you were doing!" Megaman shouted. "You could have blown our cover!"

"Well, he didn't see who it was, and he's gone now, so I'd say it was worth it," Cypher said, shrugging. "Doesn't hurt to get your hands dirty."

Lan looked at Lee, who shrugged apologetically. "Well, we might as well take a look inside now. Megaman, go on in and be careful!"

"Cypher, you take Fridgeman's place," Lee directed.

"Aw, do I have to?" Cypher whined.

"Yes, now deal!"

Megaman headed into the tunnel cautiously, reporting back as he went. "Nothing yet, Lan. But I think I see the end up ahead. Yea, it's definitely ending now. It leads to… whoa."

"What is it?" Lan said, gripping his PET even tighter.

"I… I'm not sure. But I think it looks kind of like the inside of a dimensional area generator, only different. I can't tell really."

"Here's another Double Soul then." Lan said, pulling out a second chip. "Number Soul, Navi chip in, download!"

"I wish I could get Double Souls," Cypher muttered, leaning against the wall outside the tunnel.

Megaman took a closer look at the object through Number Soul's analytical view. "That really helps. I can definitely tell it's a modified dimensional area generator of some kind now."

"Modified to do what?" Lee asked.

"I'm not sure yet. I need more info. I'm moving in closer," Megaman reported. There was a moment of silence. Then Megaman's voice came back on. "It appears that it focuses energy on a specific point, but why, I don't know. Hold on, there's another Darkloid coming!"

Megaman swiftly ducked out of sight as Burnerman walked up to the strange device. A voice came from somewhere. "Are you ready?"

Lan and Lee both heard it over Lan's PET. "Regal," Lan whispered.

"All fired up," Burnerman responded. "This'll be a cinch."

"Priming dimensional rift generator." The machine began to power up, making loud whirring noises that increased in volume as it warmed up. "Location locked on, preparing to send dimensional area generators." There was a small pause, and then the voice came back. "Preparing to open dimensional rift, please step back."

Burnerman took a few steps backward as energy began gathering at several different places on the device. After a moment, the energy shot in a brilliant beam to all converge at a single point. At the place where they hit, a small purple-colored crack began to form. It got larger and larger until it was big enough for Burnerman to walk through, which he did. Megaman had a clear view through the rift as Burnerman walked into it.

As soon as Burnerman was far enough away, Megaman dashed back to the tunnel. Cypher was waiting for him at the other end. "Well, what did you see?" he asked urgently.

Megaman took a breath before responding. " I could see through to the other side of that rift. It… It wasn't like anything I've ever seen before. It definitely wasn't anywhere in this world."

There was silence in both the Cyber and real worlds. Lee broke it by saying, "Well, I think we know what Regal's been up to."

* * *

Yes indeed they do. But what are they going to do about it? And where does our narrator come into all of this? And just who is our narrator anyway? …Do you really think I'm going to tell you all that now? You'll just have to review and stay tuned for the next chapter… which I hope you will. Later days! 


	2. Things Start to Heat Up

I'm back with Ch. 2. You've all been anxiously awaiting it, right? _Right?_ Whatever. Here's some review responses…

**grandmaster p:** You know… it took me about two minutes to figure out that word. But I got it and yea, it pretty much describes what's going on.

**Shadowkeeper13: **One question. If there's only one chapter and you love the fic but you don't really like the first chapters… confusion much.

So we've got a lot of questions out there that need answering so why not just get to the fic and answer some of them already. Keyword: _some_. Har we go!

* * *

_So by now you're probably wondering just where I fit into all of this. Well, it does have something to do with what's on the other side of that rift… in fact, it has _everything_ to do with the other side of that rift. You see, that's where I live, in good old Bradleyville, USA. An ordinary town, but as we headed into summer, some weird stuff started to happen. Of course, I was more concerned with getting to summer vacation in one piece. But on the day that that first weird incident occurred, I was actually enjoying school… well, partially. You all know how it is. What's the one thing you can actually enjoy that has to do with school… yup, FIELD TRIP! Specifically, it was at the local museum…

* * *

_ Bradleyville Science Museum 

"The cavemen, or Neanderthals as they are known as in the scientific community, typically ranged from…" The museum tour guide's voice droned on as the 10th grade class spread out among the various displays. Raymond Hall, mostly referred to as Ray, leaned against one of the metal rails between him and his friend, Jonas Stevenson, and the glass window of an exhibit. Ray wore jeans, black sneakers, a gray T-shirt and an open red collared shirt over that. He had wavy short brown hair. The only thing that stood out about him was the color of his eyes. They were an extremely dark brown, so dark in fact that they appeared to be pure black.

Ray nudged his friend. "Hey, Rail," he said, calling Jonas by his nickname, earned because of his somewhat obsessive skating hobby. He gestured to the display of a caveman sitting hunched over a somewhat round piece of stone with primitive hammer and chisel in hand. "If the wheel was that big, how big do you think the deck was?"

As soon as someone looked at Jonas, they distinctly labeled him, "skater dude." He had long, plain khaki pants, a long sleeve white shirt with a green T-shirt over it, and black elbow- and kneepads, which he never took off, and of course the trademark Vans. His semi-long black hair continually fell in front of his brown eyes. His eyes opened wider as Jonas thought about Ray's comment. "Forget the deck, man. What about the half-pipe?" They both laughed until they caught Mrs. Reed's stern glare from across the room. The two sobered up and started to walk slowly over to another display.

"Two weeks of school left! I can't wait!" Ray said. "Of course, we still have to get through exam week." Ray paused, waiting for Jonas to respond. "Rail?" Still nothing. "Jonas?" Ray turned to find that Jonas had stopped walking a while back and was staring off in another direction. Ray shook his head and headed back toward him Jonas could be like that sometimes. It wasn't because he had ADD, but because he'd had one too many concussions falling off his board. "C'mon Jonas," Ray said upon reaching him.

Jonas pointed off in a direction. "Looks like Bruce is up to something," he said, still staring.

Ray was instantly alert. Bruce was the local bully, and he and Ray were on less than friendly terms. It wasn't that Bruce pushed Ray around so much that Ray tried to keep Bruce from pushing others around. Ray's eyes followed the general direction of Jonas's finger until he spotted Bruce and two of his bullying cronies.

Bruce McRiley was an easy figure to spot. He was slightly overweight, but his height hid it for the most part. He wore ripped jeans, a black T-shirt, a black leather jacket, and brown leather boots. His hair was spiked and blond, and he had blue eyes that could intimidate nearly everyone. Ray wasn't "nearly everyone."

Ray glanced quickly back at where Mrs. Reed was busy with another group of students, and then slipped off down the corridor. Jonas hurried to catch up, his bangs flapping in his face as he ran. "Dude, what're you doing?" he panted.

"If Bruce is up to no good, then someone's gotta stop him," Ray said without slowing down or turning around.

"Why is it that that someone always has to be you?" Jonas wondered.

"'Cause no one else ever steps up."

"Well, you sure make up for it," Jonas muttered. "And then some. Why'd you always have to play the hero?"

Ray didn't answer. He was too preoccupied with Bruce. "I think you took a wrong turn, Bruce." Ray smirked. "Or did you just 'not notice?'"

Bruce rolled his eyes, not wanting to have to deal with this now. "You stay out of this, Hall," he said, pointing a threatening finger and referring to Ray with the obligatory bully's "last name only". "Unless you wanna spend the summer with a broken arm."

On a cue from Bruce, his two cronies slipped around Ray and each grabbed one of Jonas's arms. Ray was less than pleased. "Why don't you leave him out of this?" he demanded.

Bruce began cracking his knuckles. "Relax, I'm making sure he is." Bruce got in a fighting stance. "I've been looking forward to this for a long time."

Ray similarly positioned himself. "Likewise. Will you do the honors?"

Bruce brought his fist back for a crushing blow. Ray was just as prepared to dodge. All was set for a magnificent fight, until…

"What's that!" Jonas suddenly shouted, getting the attention of not only the potential fighters but also everyone else down the hall. He was referring to a large purplish colored hole that had appeared outside the window. Everyone stared as a tall white and blue tower emerged from it. Then the hole disappeared but the tower remained, which began to glow. In panic, Bruce's assistants dropped Jonas and ran off down the hall yelling, "It's a nuke! RUN!"

* * *

_Me again. Now, there's one thing you've got to remember, at least for now: You may be very familiar with the concept of a dimensional area, but this was the first time any of us had ever seen something like this. The mistaken identity, dumb though it may be (though I wouldn't expect anything less from someone who hangs out with Bruce), was perfectly understandable under the circumstances. That's all for now, so back to the "crisis" at hand…

* * *

_

Jonas scrambled up off the floor. "Shouldn't we get to shelter or something?"

Ray shook his head still staring at the object. "If it's right next to us, I don't think we could get away before it detonates. But I don't think it's a bomb."

"Huh?"

Ray's prediction proved to be right. As the tower glowed, combined with the efforts of three other towers that had appeared around the building, a large dome began to form over the museum. It consisted of different color hexagonal sections. As it formed, the coloration of everything inside became distorted, with the exception of people. Bruce whirled around several times, taking in this new development. "Now what?" he asked, hostility forgotten in the wake of something surprising.

Ray shook his head slowly, until another noise behind them caught their attention. Slowly they turned to see another one of those purplish holes open behind them. It opened to distinctly the size of a person, but what walked through was definitely not human. Bruce backed off shaking his head. "This isn't a nuclear war. It's an alien invasion!" He ran off down the hall, yelling to everyone about the proclaimed "alien invasion."

Ray and Jonas backed away from the hole a bit but stayed in the area, just to see what it was. Probably not a good idea. Burnerman walked out and the hole closed. He took a quick survey of the panicked people running around and said, "Cake." He was about to go off and do whatever dastardly deed Dr. Regal had sent him for when he noticed the two boys standing shocked in front of him. "What?" They continued staring at him. Burnerman rolled his eyes. He leaned down a little. "Boo," he said. Jonas visibly jumped, but Ray only blinked… and kept right on staring. Burnerman had had enough of playing around. "Fine then, I'll just make you leave. Blue Flame!"

It took Ray a millisecond to realize that this was not something he should stick around for. He dived to the ground, grabbing Jonas with him, as the jet of flame shot overhead. "Let's get out of here," Ray said. Jonas simply nodded his head, still partially in shock. The two of them got up quickly and ran off down the hall.

Burnerman smirked. "I think I might as well make the most of this. Burning Jet!" All his burners ignited and he sped off down the hallway, leaving a trail of flame behind him. At the end, he didn't even bother turning; he just busted right through the wall and kept right on going.

Ray stopped running and turned back toward the destruction behind him. Jonas kept on going for a moment, and then stopped, realizing Ray wasn't with him. "Forget it, man," Jonas said, pausing between words to breathe. "There's nothing you can do this time. There's nothing _anyone_ can do this time. Except maybe the fire department."

Ray continued staring. He realized what Jonas was saying was true. What could anyone do to stop something like this?

* * *

Meanwhile, Burnerman had arrived at the Geology division of the museum. He finally stopped burning everything in his path and took a quick look around. He scanned each of the samples of various rocks and metals until he found the one he needed. He easily melted the lock off and grabbed the sample out. "Burning Jet!" He sped back down the path of destruction he had created on his way in, renewing the flames that had died down a bit. The halls were now for the most part abandoned; the former occupants having left the building and now puzzling and panicking over that fact that they couldn't get out of this dome that surrounded the building. Upon reaching the specific hallway where he had first come to this place, Burnerman stopped and waited for the return rift to appear. He was reminded of the two humans who had been there at that time. Something about one of them bothered him. He hadn't seemed afraid at all. Confused, yes, but afraid, no. To Burnerman, his constant stare was a challenge, the strangely colored eyes looking him over, seeing if he was a threat. Burnerman pushed the thoughts from his mind. It was just a puny human, no problem at all. But as he stepped into the rift that had opened, it occurred to him that he would not have liked to have met this human armed with a navi.

* * *

**Scilab**- Later that day 

Lan and Lee returned to Scilab and reported what they had found. Dr. Hikari didn't believe it at first, but after going over the visual data Megaman had gathered, it was irrefutable proof. He immediately called a meeting of everyone at Scilab, Famous and Chief Keifer included. They met in Scilab main room. The three Net Savers stood off to the side, watching everything, or in Lan's case, pacing.

Dr. Hikari got right to the heart of the issue. "I've called you all here because we have just found out that Nebula has a powerful new resource. Using unknown methods, Dr. Regal has actually been able to create a dimensional transporter of sorts." The room erupted. Many scientists didn't believe it, saying it was impossible. Dr. Hikari banged on the table in front of him to restore order. "Please, settle down," he pleaded. "I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but we have physical evidence of such a device existing." He gestured over to where Lan, Lee, and Chaud were standing. "Our Net Savers have already checked out the situation."

One scientist stood up. "What do you plan to do about this?"

"We're already working on a solution," Dr. Hikari replied. "We here at Scilab will begin working on a massive project to assist those in the dimension Regal is attacking. Chaud has already promised assistance from Blaze Corp."  
Lan had a question. "Why don't we just go in and blast the thing?"

Megaman answered it for him. "The device is just a modified dimensional area generator, which Regal has plenty of. He could always just make another. Besides, we don't know how well he protects it."

Dr. Hikari nodded. "Because of that, all we can do is help from a distance until we can get to Regal himself."

Another scientist had a question. "How do you intend to get help to this other dimension?" This caused a buzz throughout the room.

"Chaud will be monitoring the energy fluxes in the area we originally spotted them. Hopefully when we spot one, when we're ready, we can tap into the generator somehow and piggyback whatever we're sending on the rift."

"Just what do you intend to send?"

"We're working on the designs for a new style PET, one that will suit the circumstances. From what we can tell, the technology isn't as advanced over there, so some standard features of our PETs will be dropped and new features added in for the new PETs. We'll also be designing new specially customized navis to go in them. And another thing, we'll only be making five."

"Why five?" was the question.

"Well, we're making one of each element: Fire, Aqua, Elec, and Wood. Also, a Normal type one too."

"How soon can you expect to be done with these?"

"Unfortunately, not for a few months at least. In the meantime, we will monitor the location we discovered to make sure that Regal keeps going to the same place, which we're pretty sure he is." Dr. Hikari took a breath before continuing. "One thing is for sure: we're going to need everyone's help on this one. I mean _everyone,_" he said, looking over at the three Net Savers. "Lan, we're going to need to gather all the data we can on cross-fusion. Lee, I need you to make periodic trips down to the warehouse to keep an eye on the dimensional rift generator. Chaud, you already have your assignment." The three nodded.

Dr. Hikari turned back to the crowd. "If that is all, gentlemen, then let's get to work."

* * *

So, the plan is moving. I bet now you can probably guess how a certain someone will fit into all of this. Tell me about what you think aka REVIEW! While you do that, and they get to work over at Scilab, I'll get to work on Ch. 3. Later days! 


	3. Fusion PETs!

Well, well, well, Ch. 3 already. You know it seems such a short time ago that I posted Ch. 1… or maybe that's just because I'm typing all these chapters at once and spacing out the times that I post them. On to the review responses...

**Jabber-nut...:** Oh yay, I'm so glad you started reading this one now!

**shadowkeeper13:** Ohhhh... So what you're saying is that you don't usually like the first chapters of a fic, but you _do _like _my_ first chapters. ...That is it, right?

Anyways, I'm sure you just want to get to reading so I won't hinder you any longer.

* * *

**Scilab- **About four months later

Lan sat exhausted outside the dimensional area generator. This cross-fusion data gathering had really taken a toll on him. Sometimes he would spend hours at a time in cross-fusion while his dad and other scientists did their thing. As he rested, he went over the past few months in his head.

There had still been no dimensional area activity by Nebula in Electopia. But that was probably just as well because they were all so busy with this latest project anyway. The new PETs were nearing completion; in fact Dr. Hikari was scheduled to give a presentation on them this afternoon.

In Lan's mind, the best part of this whole thing was getting to know the new navis and training with them. Since there wouldn't really be any way to train over there (which was how they generally referred to the other dimension), Lan and Lee (when they weren't busy with their other assignments) were given the responsibility of helping the new navis develop their fighting capabilities here. Each one had a unique personality and fighting style.

First, there was the Fire type, Volcanoman. He was generally acknowledged as the leader of the group. He was rarely known to give up on a problem unless there was absolutely no way to solve it. His fire attacks, Magma Blaster and Eruption, caused wide spread damage.

Volcanoman didn't get along too well with the Normal type, Steelman, who was a little on the egotistical side. He possessed enormous strength owing to his solid Cyber steel body, and had an ego to match it. His general solution to a problem was smash it until it isn't one. His Steel Fist attack really helped him do that and his Steel Curtain gave him protection if his primary strategy went awry.

Two of the other navis served as moderators between these two. The first was Deckman, the Wood type. He remained clam, cool, and calculating no matter what the situation and could usually find a solution to any problem if he thought about it long enough. He still had a tough time keeping Volcanoman and Steelman from getting at each other's throats. The difference between Deckman and the other navis was that he came with an added attachment: a specialized Cyber hover board, which also doubled as one of his attacks, the Board Boomerang. If that didn't take out his opponent, he had his more accurate Splinter Spread as backup.

The second moderator was the Aqua type, a female navi named Tide. Tide was generally cheerful and didn't like to see anyone fight with each other, herself included. Though she didn't always want to fight, when pushed to it, she was a force to be reckoned with. Both of her attacks had varying degrees of power; Surf Shot, which grew more powerful each successive time used, and Ocean Breaker, a giant wave attack the power of which depended on Tide's emotional state.

Finally, the Elec type was another female navi by the name of Charge. She was more of a tomboy who taunted friend and foe alike indiscriminately. However, despite her joking nature (which was one reason why she and Cypher got along so well), she was one of the first to reach her full battle capability. Her wide spread Power Grid attack and close range Bolt Blade made her a threat at any distance.

Lan glanced up as Lee entered the room. "Your dad's presentation is starting soon." Lan nodded. Lee sat down next to him and sighed. "I can't believe four months went by that fast… even without any Nebula activity."

"Well, we were all really busy anyway," Megaman remarked. "It would've been too much with Nebula."

"True," Lee agreed. "But it's really weird. Maybe it's because I had all that other stuff going on?" (If you want to find what he means, then read my other fic in progress, "Signs of the Zodiac") He stood up. "Anyway, we should probably get up there. Don't want to miss the presentation."

"Yea," Lan said, also standing. "Let's go."

* * *

The main room was packed once again as scientists congratulated each other for completing their task. Though each one had contributed a part, no one was really sure what the finished product was like… no one that is except for Dr. Hikari and a few select others, Chaud included.

There was a small table in the center of the room with a case covered in a cloth on it. Lan tried sneaking a peek but was spotted by Famous.

Before Dr. Hikari walked in accompanied by Chaud and the other select scientists. Dr. Hikari took his position in the middle of the room, while the scientists joined the crowd and Chaud went to sit near other representatives from Blaze Corp. Lan and Lee stood in a corner away from the main group, but they still had a pretty good view of the case in the center. "You think he'll show the navis as well," Lan asked.

Lee shrugged. "Most likely."

Dr. Hikari began banging on the table for silence. Once everyone settled down, he started the presentation. "Well, gentlemen," he began, "it's been a long four months, but we've finally finished them." He walked behind the table with the case on it. "I give you the Fusion PET!" He swept off the cloth to reveal five small devices. They were visibly and internally different from standard PETs. Each one was about half the size of a regular PET II, with a wristband attached to the bottom. There was no screen or battlechip slot, and it didn't even flip open for that matter. Each one had a different color scheme. The first was orange with dark gray accents; the second, gray with silver accents; the third, green with tan accents; the fourth tan with blue accents; and the last, purple with yellow accents.

Dr. Hikari began going through the internal features. "These PETs have been especially designed for cross-fusion only. There is no jack-in feature or battlechip slot."

Lan just had to shout out, "Then how do you use a Synchro-chip?"

Dr. Hikari smiled at him, expecting this. "That's why we gathered all that data on cross-fusion from you, Lan, or it's one of the reasons. All Synchro-chip data has been pre-programmed." He opened the case and removed the orange PET. "To enter cross-fusion, one has to hold here…" He held the circle that contained the navi symbol between his thumb and forefinger. "…and twist." He turned the symbol about a quarter turn. Obviously nothing happened here. "Also, the data of a few battlechips that match the navi's element have been programmed in as well."

Lan had another question. "How do you talk to your navi? There's no screen."

Dr. Hikari held up the PET, pointing to two buttons on either side of the device. "You simply press these two buttons at the same time and…" He demonstrated and a small holographic screen popped up, hovering in the air a few centimeters away from the top of the PET. It was blank because the navi hadn't been loaded in yet.

"Cool!" Lan said. "I wish I had one of those!"

"Maybe someday, Lan." Dr. Hikari continued on with the presentation. "The screen has been removed so that the device will be as inconspicuous as possible, which is also the reason for it's small size." He returned the PET to its case. "Also, because the technology will not be available to them, Mr. Famous has designed an advanced recovery program that is installed in each of the PETs. A communications relay has been put in each so that whoever uses them will be able to keep in touch with the others."

Dr. Hikari took a small breather before continuing. "Turning to the subject of cross-fusion, these PETs have been designed to maximize the synchronization of Netop and Netnavi to the fullest extent possible. Also, as a convenience feature, we have studied the dimensional area and have come up with a device that uses sonic waves to disrupt a small area of the dimensional area's dome. It will allow whoever uses it to gain access to a dimensional area if they're not already in it." He stopped at smiled. "That concludes this presentation. You all did a great job working on this."

Scientists stood up shouting questions. Dr. Hikari banged on the table again for silence. "One at a time, please." He proceeded to call on those who had questions one by one. It was mostly technical stuff that Lan had no interest in. Finally, someone asked about the Netnavis.

"Why can't we see them?"

"Oh, yes about that. You see, we don't want them getting attached to anything here which is why they have had limited contact with anyone outside of their designers and trainers." Lan and Lee exchanged grins. Dr. Hikari continued. "You know, there really is no way they can get back here." That answer seemed to satisfy the questioner, but there was a moment of silence as everyone took it in. "If that is all, then we should get some rest. Starting tomorrow, we will begin looking for an opportunity to send the PETs."

One by one, the scientists filed out until it was just Dr. Hikari, Famous and the Net Savers left. "Chaud, you'll be here right?" Dr. Hikari asked.

Chaud nodded. "As soon as I can. You never know when it could happen."

Famous picked up the case of the five PETs. "In that case, we'd better load the navis in, just to be ready."

Dr. Hikari agreed and the five of them headed back toward Dr. Hikari's lab. Upon arriving, they discovered that Volcanoman and Steelman were in the middle of a heated argument. Literally. In his frustration, the twin volcano peaks on Volcanoman's shoulders were spouting lava. The argument seemed to be over who was going to be the leader. Steelman's argument was that he was the strongest and (in his eyes) the coolest. Volcanoman simply said that there was no way Steelman was going to the leader, because no one would listen to him or any of his crazy ideas. After all, he had no sense of strategy. It was about to get messy when Cypher and Megaman appeared and broke it up. "This isn't the way a team should act," Megaman said. "You're allies, not enemies."

"Sorry," Volcanoman said, the lava dying down now that he was calmer. "You're right. I guess we're all kind of uptight."

Steelman wasn't ready to let go of the issue. "Dr. Hikari, who do you think should be the leader?" Immediately after asking the question, he went into a series of what he thought were cool poses, trying to get himself the vote.

Charge rolled her eyes. "Oh brother," she muttered. "Definitely a case of brawn over brains."

Cypher grinned at her. "Oh, definitely."

Dr. Hikari took his time answering the question, ignoring Steelman's attempts to ingratiate himself. "Well, I don't know if you need a leader among the navis," he finally decided.

Apparently, it was not the answer Steelman wanted to hear. "What?" Volcanoman, Charge, and Cypher snickered behind his back.

Dr. Hikari explained his reasoning. "It's just that whoever the leader is should be among the Netops, because they're the ones who will be in charge."

Famous added to the reason. "Besides, we don't really know if you'll be staying together."

There was silence among the navis. "You mean," Tide said, "we might not see each other again?"

"Hopefully not, but, yes, there is that possibility," Dr. Hikari answered, starting to mentally regret his decision to allow the navis to train together.

Famous hurriedly changed the subject. "Enough of this, it's time." They all knew what he meant by that. Each navi would be placed in his or her respective PET and go into Standby until someone activated it over there. Much to everyone's relief, he did Steelman first.

"If we do get separated," Charge commented, "the only good thing will be that I won't have to listen to _him_."

Next Volcanoman went, then Deckman, then Tide. Finally it was just Charge. "I wish you didn't have to go," Cypher said.

Charge just grinned at him. "Hey, I'll be back sometime. Then we can pull all the pranks we want on Steelman."

Cypher attempted a half-smile. "Sure." What Dr. Hikari had said earlier loomed in his mind. _"You know there really is no way they can get back."_

Once they were all finished, Famous placed the PETs under a strange device that had been constructed for the purpose of sending them. It was connected by a wireless network to the other device Lan and Lee had discovered. They all stood back and stared at it. "Well, that's it then," Chaud finally said. "We're ready."

Lee meanwhile had been thinking. "Dr. Hikari, I think I've thought of a way to keep them from getting separated."

"And what's that?"

"Instead of placing each of the PETs separately on the stand, why don't you put them back in the case and put _that_ on it."

Dr. Hikari thought for a moment. "You know, that just might work. But we'll make sure it's securely closed. Alright then, you can go home now and be back here tomorrow morning."

Lan nodded and started to walk out rather quickly. Lee stopped him and turned back to Dr. Hikari. "But what about school?" Lan winced; he was hoping that wouldn't come up.

"I'll call and tell them you're helping me. It should be a legitimate reason."

Lan jumped in the air, pumping his fist. "YES! Thanks, Dad. See ya tomorrow!" He dashed out of the room.

Lee followed at a much more reserved pace. He shook his head. "There he goes, dashing off again."

* * *

_Now, as you might have guessed, they couldn't have been doing stuff like this without the bad guy getting at least the tiniest wind of it. So…

* * *

_

**Regal's lair**

"They did what?" Ms. Yuri said, more in a calm, suprised voice than a louder, frustrated one.

"That's right. They'veestablished a remote link to my dimensional rift generator." Dr. Regal said calmly.

There was a moment of silence as Ms. Yuri expected him to go on. When he didn't, she prompted a response. "So what're you going to do about it?"

"Nothing for the moment. I'm interested in seeing what Hikari is planning. For the past few months, almost every single time I've activated the rift, one of their young Net Savers shows up. He doesn't do anything, just jacks in his navi and observes. It is hard to get an idea of what they're trying to do."

"And what about the remote link?" Ms. Yuri continued.

"There's really only one way to find out what it's for. Tomorrow I'll send Sparkman over for another raid, but I'll continually monitor the link. That's all for now."

* * *

So, Regal knows what they've been up to… sort of. How will this affect their plans? You'll just have to stay tuned. In the meantime, you can puzzle over it in your reviews. 


	4. Back to School

New chapter for y'all to enjoy. We're getting to the good part now, _I _think. So enough of this idle chatter and let's get to reading.

* * *

_Meanwhile, while all of that had been going on, I was having an interesting summer. After the first event, we got a small mention in the local news, but nothing else. I assume everyone thought we were making it up. But when it kept happening, in both our town and the surrounding area, national networks sent reporters in to investigate. Pretty soon, it was all over the news that "aliens" kept visiting our area. Thus, our town became a magnet for news teams and all those crazy people who believe in UFOs and such. Of course, they wanted to be taken with the "aliens", but they really had the wrong idea. If any of them got caught in those weird domes, they'd go dashing around trying to get whoever it was to take them back with them to their home world. Or at least they did until the bad guy got ticked and blasted them. Luckily no one got killed, but I think they learned their lesson. As I said, it was a very interesting summer. But then summer ended, and school started again…

* * *

_**Ray's house**

Ray dashed out of his house and down the sidewalk. He wasn't late; he just wanted to get out of there. With the first day of a new school year came some dreaded rituals. Mom gave her usual teary speech about how mature he was getting, how he was still her little boy, and she couldn't believe he was a junior already, blah blah blah. His little sister Jessie--a nine year-old devil according to him and Jonas, angel according to everyone else--always had some trick up her sleeve, even if it wasn't the first day of school. Finally, Dad always found some way to slip in "the talk" on days like this. "After all," he had said, "you never know when--"

"I know, Dad." Ray had quickly gotten off that subject. "I gotta go."

His mom had started to protest. "But it's only just after 7."

Ray had stopped in the doorway, fumbling for an excuse. "Yea, but I, uh, don't want to be late for my first day of education after more than three months."

Jessie had rolled her eyes at that one.

So there he was, walking to school. He had finally stopped running after his house was about a block away. It was only a few blocks down to his school, Bradleyville Public High School. He and Jonas usually walked, or in Jonas's case, boarded, to school together pretty much every day as Jonas lived right across the street. But since Ray had left especially early today, Jonas wasn't there.

Ray watched a couple of the "crazies" just getting up from their tents and RVs in the park as he walked past. The mayor had had a fit when they parked there, but since there were so many, there wasn't much he could do except yell.

Upon entering the schoolyard, Ray threw off his bag next to a large tree in the middle of the yard and sat down, chomping on a cereal bar he had grabbed on his way out. There were a few other early birds, but as can be expected, no one was in a real hurry to be there on the first day.

Ray heard a commotion over on the side of the building. He glanced around the other side of the tree to see Bruce picking on some unlucky freshman for his lunch money. Ray rolled his eyes. "Some people never learn," he sighed, as he discarded the wrapper for his cereal bar on the ground and jogged over to the scene.

The student was nervously fumbling around in his pocket. Bruce stood over him, waiting, at least a head and a half taller than his victim. The freshman held out the money, his hand shaking. Bruce was about to take it, when Ray stepped in and snatched it before Bruce could get his hands on it. He tossed it back to the surprised freshman. "Here, kid. Now get out of here. Consider it your first lesson of the school year." The freshman didn't need to be told twice.

Ray turned his attention back to Bruce, who was fuming. "Wow, you must really like school to be here this early, Bruce," he said, smirking.

Bruce clenched his fists. "Shut up, Hall. You should talk."

"Oh, I will. I'll talk to certain people about this if you don't get some sense into that thick head of yours."

Bruce backed off slightly. He tried to save face by acting tough before walking off. "Aw, you ain't worth my time." He waved a hand as he turned and walked away.

Ray shook his head. Some people never change. He walked back to the tree and sat back down.

* * *

Zoaya Kleris was currently having the time of her life. She sat on the school front steps, working on her small laptop. This might infer to some people that she was a geek, but she was far from it. Her outfit inferred she was one of those tough, troublemaker kids, the kind Bruce tried to be, but she wasn't. She wore a light blue tank top and khaki capris with suspender like things hanging off of them. She also had on navy blue arm socks that reached almost to her shoulders; the ends had a band of silver on them. She had bright green eyes and auburn hair held in a low ponytail underneath a black knit hat with a brim.

Still, she was somewhat of a troublemaker; her current activity certainly showed it, but not as bad as some other kids, at least in the kind of trouble she caused. She had a knack for computers, one reason her parents had gotten her the laptop in the first place. They had hoped it would be used for constructive purposes. Hacking into the school website was probably not one of those.

It was an opportunity she just couldn't resist. The admin codes were pretty easy to crack, allowing her to get to the web page design area. A few minutes searching the web for the perfect components, a few more minutes tapping in programming commands, and her work was done. She powered down the computer and put it away in her black cloth backpack. Now whoever accessed the school website would be greeted by a techno themed web page accompanied by a small audio clip, recorded by Zoaya herself, singing a small tune she had composed on the spot.

"_We go to Bradleyville Public High._

_It sucks so bad, I think I could die…"_

And so it went. She had distorted the clip enough so that it was still comprehensible, but they wouldn't be able to identify the culprit.

Zoaya glanced up as the buses began pulling in. She got up and stretched. _Here we go again_, she thought. She hopped up the last couple of steps and disappeared inside the building.

* * *

Ray had retrieved his backpack form by the tree and now stood leaning on the cement wall that ran around one side of the property. He was waiting for Jonas, who should have been here at least five minutes ago. Ray smiled to himself. _He probably forgot about it when I didn't show up at his door._ He wasn't looking in the right direction, but he suddenly knew Jonas was coming. He could hear his board's wheels hitting the pavement. Ray stood there listening to the steady clicking, until the beat went off and there was a loud thud behind him. Ray knew Jonas had wiped out again and vaulted over the wall in order to see if his friend was alright. He nearly landed on him. Jonas was sprawled out on the sidewalk, a dazed expression on his face. "What happened?" Ray asked.

Jonas stayed on the ground the entire time, just staring up at the sky. "I was just skatin' along, mindin' my own business, when out of nowhere this crack comes up. Then the concrete just goes and blindsides me. Man… it was so _not_ cool."

Ray tried to hide his smile, stepping on Jonas's board before it rolled out into the street. He held out a hand to help his friend up. "Better recover pretty quick, 'cause that was first bell!" Jonas leaped up and the two of them dashed into school.

* * *

**Scilab**

"I'm here!" Lan announced, still ecstatic about not having to go to school. Lee followed him in, though not quite so loudly.

Dr. Hikari greeted them. "Come on in. We were just getting started."

"Great, so what do we do?" Lan asked eagerly.

"We wait," his dad replied simply.

Lan gave him a look that said, "WHAT!" Lee just smiled behind his back.

* * *

Over the next few hours, they mostly just sat around, except for Chaud who was working at one of the terminals and Dr. Hikari who was monitoring him. Lee had thought ahead and brought a book with him, but Lan was left high and dry with nothing to do.

Lee ignored Lan's repeated requests to Netbattle, until it finally got to him. "Alright, fine! Just don't ask again after this one," he said. They were just about ready to jack in when Chaud's monitor started beeping.

* * *

**Regal's lair**

Dr. Regal was giving orders. "Sparkman, you will wait until my signal to enter the rift." Sparkman nodded. Dr. Regal typed in a few numbers on his control pad. "This is just a test to see what that link is for, so any place will do for the dimensional area. Initiating dimensional rift."

**

* * *

Scilab**

"This is it," Dr. Hikari said. He directed Famous to go over to another control board. "Here we go. Establishing remote link. Feeding in coordinates. Begin transmission!"

The strange machine began to crackle with energy and glow. A protective shield was lowered around it. Lee stared at the black case, making sure it wasn't zapped. Energy gathered at five points on the circle at the very bottom of the part that hung over the case. All of a sudden the energy shot in five bright beams at the case. Lee jumped up, but Dr. Hikari told him to sit back down. "That's what it's supposed to do."

Soon the light faded. When it did, the case was gone. There was silence in the room. DR. Hikari let out a huge sigh. "It worked."

* * *

**Regal's lair**

"Hmm… interesting." Dr. Regal sat staring at a monitor, tapping his finger on his cheek. "Sparkman, they just sent over a real world item into our dimensional area. Find it and destroy it. You know what to do if anyone gets in your way. And I needn't remind you of the time limit."

"Yessir, I'm on it."

* * *

**Bradleyville Public High School**

So far, the day had passed uneventfully. The only good thing about the first day of school was that you didn't get any homework, a fact for which Ray was very thankful. Ray and Jonas were in the same class first period, History, so that was a pro. A con was that Bruce happened to be Ray's lunch period. Lunchtime and bullies do not make a very good combo.

As soon as Ray finished his meal, he headed outside. Since it was only early September, the weather was still fairly nice. What was not nice was that almost as soon as Ray got out the door, Bruce ran into him. Ray rolled his eyes. This was not the time he wanted to deal with Bruce.

* * *

Zoaya was in her 5th period class and the teacher was calling attendance. When he got to her name, he pronounced it "Zo-ay-yah." Zoaya immediately popped her hand up. "Um excuse me," she said.

The teacher nodded at her.

"You pronounced my name wrong. It's pronounced 'Zoy-yah.'"

The teacher smiled embarrassedly. "Oh sorry," he said, making a note of the correct phonetics.

"No prob," Zoaya responded. With a name like hers, she had to be used to people saying it wrong. She was just thinking that, when her laptop beeped. She glanced around and picked it up secretly, but there was little need to check it. She had set it to send an alarm every time it picked up weird energy readings in the area.

* * *

Bruce was instantly on the offensive. "What you want now, Hall?"

"Nothing, Bruce. Just let me past."

"Oh, not so tough now are ya? Maybe cause I taught ya a lesson this morning? Huh?"

"Do you really think I'd ever let you touch me? You couldn't even if you tried." Ray now had a smirk on his face.

Bruce clenched his fists again. "Oh yeah? Well, let's see about that."

Ray sighed. "Fine, if you really want to." He slipped of his backpack and laid it by the wall.

Bruce was really getting into it now. "This is the last straw, Hall. I'll teach you a lesson you won't forget."

"How can you teach me anything when you don't ever learn anything here? Or was there some other reason you stayed back a year?"

Bruce growled and launched himself at Ray. But yet again, they were interrupted as the mysterious towers appeared. Ray looked around at the dome that was forming. "The Fates are against us," he observed.

"You shut up, we can still— OW!"

Ray heard something clatter to the ground. He turned back to see Bruce holding his head. He looked down. There was a long black case on the ground. It had popped open and its glass top had cracked slightly, but Ray was more interested in what had fallen out of the case: Five strange looking devices that he had never seen the likes of before. He was suddenly jerked back to reality as Bruce snatched one and made off with it. "Bruce!" Ray shouted after him, but he was long gone.

Another noise behind him caused Ray to peer around the side of the building. One of those bad guys had entered the area. Ray glanced from it down to the four remaining devices. _It must be looking for them._ Without another thought, he piled them and the case into his backpack and hurried back inside. The cafeteria was pretty much abandoned by this time. About three steps inside the door, he remembered something. "Oh, crud. BRUCE!"

* * *

Uh-oh, looks like it's hero time. But how can Ray handle Sparkman when he hasn't a clue what the things are? Stay tuned and, as always, review. 


	5. Play the Hero

News update:I have now changed my name to 00zags. That's all for now.

* * *

Ray was undecided as to what he should do. If he stayed inside and took care of himself, Bruce would most likely end up pounded or barbecued or whatever. Not that Ray _wanted_ to save him, but it would be a bad thing to have on one's conscience if he didn't and something bad happened. However, if he went the other way, and went out there to find Bruce, he would most likely be spotted and if the bad guy out there found out he had those things, _his_ life would be at risk, and even more so because he had four compared to Bruce's one. _C'mon now, Ray, _he told himself. _You wanted an opportunity to some real hero stuff and here it is staring you in the face. You just gotta take it._ He took a deep breath and peered around the doorway. Luckily, the bad guy was preoccupied with something on the other side of the yard. Ray slipped out the door and slid along the wall until he figured he was out of sight. Then he ran to find Bruce.

* * *

The moment the dome formed over the school, Zoaya's class erupted in panic. Despite the teacher's attempts to keep everyone under control, they all dashed out of the room to join the others trying to get out. Zoaya avoided the general rush and took her time collecting her things. She shook her head. _Don't they know by now that they can't get out anyway?_ Zoaya knew from experience and experimentation; you run into the side of one of those domes and you get a pretty nasty zap.

The halls were pretty much deserted by now in this area of the school. Zoaya walked at her own pace, in no hurry to get anywhere. The way she saw it, once this whole thing was over, they'd probably cancel school for the rest of the day because of all the panic.

Zoaya hopped down the main stairway. The lower floor was much busier than the upper as everyone was coming there. She slipped around the edge of the stairs and decided to wait it out beneath the staircase. She was just about to pull out her laptop when she realized there was someone else under there with her.

* * *

Ray dashed around to the back of the building, hoping to find Bruce quickly. No such luck. The back was entirely deserted. Ray peered into the woods that bordered the back of the school property. The dome had encased the outskirts of them. He couldn't see Bruce in there either. He tried jerking open a door. Locked. No way Bruce could have gotten in that way. Unless he had locked Ray out after he went in. Ray rolled his eyes. That would be so typical of Bruce. He decided to try the other side of the building.

As he came around the corner, he ran right into, not Bruce, but Sparkman. Ray was knocked right to the ground. His backpack came off a little and one of the strange devices slipped out. Sparkman spotted it. He started to reach for it, which was pretty awkward because he didn't have any hands, just those huge spike-like things. Ray scrambled up, grabbing his backpack and the device, and took off toward the woods.

Sparkman rolled his eyes. "Why do they always have to try and run? But of course, that just makes my job more fun. Spark Wave!"

Ray just happened to glance behind him as the electrical wave approached rather quickly and dived behind a tree just in time. He breathed a sigh of relief at his close escape. _I'm not out of this yet,_ he reminded himself. _Lessee, wood doesn't conduct electricity so…_ He glanced up at the tree he was leaning on. There was a rather large branch just in reach. He leaped up and grabbed it with both hands and walked his feet up the side of the trunk to get himself up onto it. He got to another higher branch just as Sparkman reached the tree.

"Just throw down the bag and you won't be hurt," Sparkman called. He seemed to reconsider for a moment. "Much," he added.

"Not a chance if those are the odds," Ray called down.

"Fine then. Spark Bomb!" A small hovering bomb crackling with electricity appeared in front of Sparkman and began to float up towards Ray.

Ray glanced around for something to defend himself with. He wrenched off a smaller branch and batted the bomb back toward Sparkman just as it was about to go off. Ray smirked. _That oughta keep him busy._ He hurriedly took out one of the devices and gave it a thorough speedy inspection. It was orange with dark gray accents and shaped like a rectangle with a semi circle on the end. On the semi circle part of it was a strange symbol: two triangles pointing towards each other and slightly overlapping. The top one was orange, the bottom one was dark gray and where they overlapped was black. It was all on a light gray background inside a red circle. There were a couple buttons on the thing: two black ones on either side and a red one on the back of it. There was a dark gray wrist strap attached to it.

Ray glanced down at Sparkman who was now moving to physically assault the tree. Ray knew that Sparkman could probably take it down so he had a limited amount of time to figure a way out of this thing. First he tried pressing the red button. Nothing. Then he pressed one of the black ones. Still nothing. He pressed the other black one. Nothing yet again. For a stretch he tried pressing the symbol. Nothing happened but he did notice it jiggled a little bit. He twisted it. It went about a quarter turn but then jammed.

By the now the tree was shaking pretty good. Sparkman had stuck his spikes into the sides of it and was in the process of yanking it out of the ground.

_C'mon you stupid thing, can't you do anything?_ Ray yelled at the device in his mind. He smacked it on his hand, the typical way most people dealt with busted electronics. When he did, the first black button was pressed against the hand he was holding it in and the other was pressed for just an instant against the other hand. But it was enough. There was a small electronic ping and a screen appeared hovering above the device.

Sparkman stopped what he was doing and looked up. _Oh great, he got it working. Better finish this now._ He brought back his arm for a huge hit.

Ray glanced down. _Oh crap._ Just as he thought that, something popped up on the screen. It looked like one of those "aliens" that had been in the domes, but this one looked nicer. It started to say something, but Ray cut it off. "Need help now. Big guy. Up in a tree. Weird dome thingy. How do I get out of this jam!"

It seemed to understand the situation right away. "Ok, then. Strap the PET on your arm and twist the symbol."

Ray fumbled with the strap but got it to hold on his arm. He was just going to twist the symbol when the tree gave way.

* * *

Zoaya noticed another girl about her age sitting huddled up in a corner way back under the staircase. She had a white, bohemian style shirt under a light green, long cut, baggy tank top with navy, tight shorts and light brown boots. Zoaya noticed she wore a necklace with a silver disc on it with a moon etched into the center. Her hair was long, black and straight under a pink headband with the grown out bangs pushed to one side, some shorter wisps loose. She was obviously very frightened, not of Zoaya but of the circumstances surrounding her. Zoaya did her best to calm her down. She flashed a smile. "Hey."

The other girl just stared at her.

Zoaya continued in a carefree manner, trying to get across the message that there was nothing to be scared about. "Pretty crazy out there, huh?" she said pointing a thumb over her shoulder.

This time the girl nodded. Zoaya also noticed she relaxed a little bit more.

"So who're you? I know I've never seen you before, not even in the school student database. Oh, I'm Zoaya by the way, but most of my friends call me 'Z.'"

The girl spoke very quietly. "My name's Sasha Connell. We just moved here a week ago."

Zoaya nodded. "Oh… That explains it then." She leaned back against the wall, putting her hands behind her head. "Lived here all my life. Never really wanted to go anywhere else, especially with the events of the last couple months."

"You mean you're not worried?" Sasha had definitely loosened up by now, even moving a little bit out of the corner she was in.

"Nah, not me. I think the whole thing's pretty interesting. Never seen anything like it anywhere else. So why'd you move here anyway? Stuff like this has kept most people away. Except for the loopy ones." Zoaya emphasized this last remark by moving her finger in a circular pattern around her ear.

Sasha smiled a little. "I don't know. My dad always said that it would never happen to us and I thought he was right because there hadn't been any incidents since we moved here… until today."

Zoaya put on an apologetic smile. "No offense, but welcome to the real world. Anything can happen to anybody."

* * *

He was in mid-air, falling, everything a mixture of brown, green, and weird swirling colors. Through the chaos, he could hear the guy in the thing on his arm. "Do it now, kid! NOW!" Ray found the symbol and twisted it as hard as he could. The device began to glow. The circle he had just twisted projected a larger image of the symbol which moved away from the device and placed itself on Ray's chest.

What happened in the next few moments Ray could never fully explain. It seemed as though time had stopped. The device seemed to break up and leave his arm and surround him. He could feel something forming on his body. Then reality kicked back in. But it still seemed like some weird Sci-fi movie.

Ray had shut his eyes tight after he had twisted the thing, bracing for impact with the ground. He had hit it, but not so hard as he expected.

_Kid?_

Now he could hear that guy's voice only it wasn't coming from his arm, sort of synthesized-like. It was in his head, loud and clear.

_Kid, you all right?_

Ray slowly nodded his head. Then he noticed himself. He was covered in armor. It vaguely reminded him of the guy on the screen, but it was different somehow. (We'll get to descriptions later. Otherwise it'll seem as though Sparkman was standing there doing nothing for forever.) "What happened?" he asked. That guy answered him.

_It worked. Explanations later though. Time for battle 101._

"Wait, you mean I have to fight him?"

_Yea. Just follow my lead and do as I say. You'll be fine… I hope._

"I heard that."

Sparkman interrupted any further pleasantries. "So you cross-fused? That means to get the PET I'll have to rip you apart. Spark Wave!"

_Jump!_

Ray jumped, but he was surprised to find he could jump much higher now. "Whoa, how'd I do that?" he said as he landed about twenty feet from where he had started.

The miracle of cross-fusion. Now look alive, we're attacking. Take aim and say "Magma Blaster."

"Ok…" Ray slowly positioned himself facing the oncoming Sparkman. "Here goes. Magma Blaster?" Ray said it nervously, cringing a little, as he didn't know what was going to happen. The two volcano peaks on his shoulders swiveled from pointing straight up to pointing forward.

_Brace yourself, kid_.

Ray barely had time to act on this advice before two streams of lava shot from the peaks turned cannons. He skidded back a few feet, but not as much as Sparkman was knocked back.

_Nice shot for a first timer, but next time say it with more "oomph."_

"Next time?" Ray looked up to see Sparkman charging again but this time Ray was caught unawares. He was knocked through the air, landing flat on his back several feet away. His back stung and his chest was sore from the blow. Definitely not like falling out of a tree.

_Gotta stay sharp. Here's a little help. Don't freak out now._

Ray was startled a little as his hand disappeared into a silver band. There was a small puff of fire and then a flaming blade sprang out of the band.

_There you go, kid. Knock yourself out. Not literally though._

Ray swung the sword experimentally. A small wave fire shot from the arc he made, running into several trees, setting them ablaze. Ray winced. "Oops."

_Yea, next time aim for the bay guy._

"I'll keep that in mind," Ray muttered. He swung it again straight ahead, this time harder. A larger wave of fire blazed ahead toward Sparkman.

"Heh, you think fire can stop me? Feel the power of electricity! Spark Wave!" The much more powerful Spark Wave attack shot right through the wave of fire, eliminating it and carrying on to hit Ray.

_Geez, kid, you shoulda seen that one coming._

Ray was growing frustrated with this guy's criticism. "Well, _maybe_ I'm just not as experienced at this sort of thing?"

The guy's voice was a little more on the apologetic side the next time he spoke.

_Sorry, I was just trying to help._

Sparkman had another card to play. "Let's give you a playmate. Shadow Maker!" Sparkman crossed his spikes together and a bright light shone from them. Ray put up a hand to shield his eyes. Behind him, his shadow appeared and sprang up off the ground in a fighting stance.

Ray whirled around. "What the?" The shadow made no response… verbally anyway. It charged right at him, sword upraised. Ray got his own sword in a defensive position just in time. He strained against the shadow as Sparkman laughed.

"Have fun. I've got business to take care of." With that he began to walk off.

"Huh?" Ray had a hard time fending off his own shadow and trying to see what Sparkman was doing at the same time. Then finally it hit him. "Wait! He's going after my backpack. That's where the rest of those devices are!"

_We can't let him get those at any cost! You'd be hard-pressed to do this job by yourself._

"What job?" Any further conversation was cut out by the shadow continuing its attack. The two exchanged slashes several times before Ray decided to try a different approach. "OK, this sword isn't working. Any way we can get rid of it?"

_Your wish is my command._

In an instant, the sword collapsed and Ray's hand returned. "Let's see if I can do this right? Magma Blaster!"

_Yea! That's more like it!_

Ray was sure he could beat this shadow. At least until his own lava blasts were intercepted by two of the shadow's. "Geez, this guy does everything I do!"

_He's your shadow. What'd you expect?_

"So to beat him…" Ray tried prompting for an answer. None came. Or at least not a helpful one.

_Sorry, kid, but you're on your own with this one. Never been in this situation._

"Great, thanks." Ray took a quick glance at Sparkman. He was dangerously close to the backpack now. He was poking around in the toppled foliage looking for it. Literally poking around. Ray began wishing he had another person to help him besides this voice in his head. Then all of a sudden, it came.

A large silver colored guy came dashing from the other side of the building, a glowing fist upraised. Both Ray and the shadow were caught off guard but it turned out to be the shadow's unlucky day. The guy pounded it into dust… or smoke, that works too.

_Hang on kid, here we go._

Ray was suddenly teleported right over to Sparkman, who was equally as surprised as Ray. "So you managed to take care of your shadow? You won't find me as easy to defeat."

Ray was preparing for the fight of his life when something seemed to go off in Sparkman. He suddenly turned and pounded over to the other side of the school where he had first gotten there. Ray raised an eyebrow and followed cautiously. Then something slammed into him from the side. Ray flew a good distance and was stopped by a tree. He shook his head groggily, still confused as to what just happened. He looked up to see the big silver guy standing over him. He had steel coated fists, black chest armor with white stripes cutting in and gray pants and sleeves, with black boots with a gray diamond on them. He also had a white belt with a symbol in the center of it, and a form-fitting dark gray helmet with a single thick silver stripe as well as a pop-up black visor that completely covered his face.

"What's the big idea?" Ray demanded.

In response, the guy just flipped open the full-face visor of his helmet. There was Bruce, grinning.

"Bruce!" Ray was instantly up on his feet.

_You know this guy?_

"Yea, unfortunately. And I take there's a voice in his head of some guy _you_ know?"

_Something like that._

Bruce stood there grinning the whole time. "I gotta hand it to you, Hall, you've been pretty lucky up 'till now, but now I've got the power to grind you into dust." Ray ducked to one side as Bruce swung at his head. The tree behind Ray was pulverized into splinters.

_Oh crap,_ Ray groaned.

_You can say that again._

Ray was about to when he stopped short. _Wait, you can hear me thinking?_

_Um… oh, yeah… I can. Look out!_

Ray ducked another swing. "You may be stronger Bruce, but you're still as slow as ever."

Bruce growled. "I'll show you fast."

There was a noise that made them both stop. The dome was beginning to disappear. Their armor broke up and recollected into the devices they had previously been. "Hey, what gives?" Bruce demanded.

"I guess it can only work in those weird dome thingys," Ray surmised.

"Oh well, I can still pound you." Bruce started to raise his fist when someone cleared their throat behind him.

"What was that, Mr. McRiley?" Bruce turned slowly around, dreading who it was.

"Uh… n-nothing, Mrs. Reed," Bruce stammered. "We were just--"

"Yes, what were you and Mr. Hall doing out here during a crisis? You should've been inside where it's safer."

"Nowhere's safe in those things," Ray muttered under his breath.

Bruce continued to try and give a good explanation. "Well… you see… there were these things, right?"

"What 'things?'"

Bruce began to bring out the gray device he had picked up. Ray took a quick step forward and snatched it out of his hand before Mrs. Reed could see it and stuffed it and his own into his pockets.

Bruce glared at Ray, who ignored him and gave his own explanation of the situation. "Well, you see, ma'am, we had come outside after we finished our lunch and then in the confusion we got locked out so we were hiding in the woods until it wore down." He half-smiled.

Mrs. Reed raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really. It seems you didn't choose much of a hiding spot," she said gazing around at the splintered and burnt trees.

"Well, we're OK, and that's all that matters right? _Right?_" he added nudging Bruce rather hard. Bruce nodded slowly.

Mrs. Reed looked from one to the other and decided it was enough. "Alright then, you get home now. The superintendent's canceled school for the rest of the day."

The two boys nodded as she walked away. Then Bruce exploded. "Why'd you do that? I was gonna…"

"Make a huge mistake," Ray interrupted. "As is typical of you. No one needs to know about these things, you got it? Here." Ray took the gray one out of his pocket and shoved it in Bruce's stomach. "I'll let you keep it… for now."

Bruce glared at him for a couple more seconds, then walked away. Ray watched him go. "Good plan," a voice sounded from his other pocket.

Ray hurriedly pulled it out, at the same time moving back towards the woods to retrieve his backpack. "Good plan what?"

The voice was just coming from the device, with no screen activated. "About keeping it a secret. But maybe not so much giving the thing to that guy."

"I can keep an eye on him," Ray answered, sliding his backpack from under a branch. Luckily, the branch had propped itself up in an arch over it, so the backpack wasn't crushed. He zipped it up and slung it over his shoulder. "In the meantime, you've got some explaining to do."

"Sure, as soon as we get to your house."

"What makes you think we're going there?"

"Is there anywhere else to go?"

"Good point."

* * *

OK, so now it's getting interesting… or at least I hope it is. You know what to do, but I'll remind you anyway. REVIEW! Okay, that's enough. Later days! 


	6. On the Homefront

OK… Here we go… cracks knuckles … I got nothing. Just read it already.

* * *

_OK, so I had had my first battle and survived. I didn't know much about battling then, so I was lucky. But now I had a situation on my hands that I couldn't get rid of very easily. So I was stuck with it. Not that that's a bad thing, but it did get me to where I am now. But I'm getting a little a head of myself. Let's get back to right after the battle…_

Luckily, no one was home when Ray got there. His parents were both at work and Jessie was still at school. (_Thank God!_) He went up to the loft that was his room, dumped his backpack on the bed and plopped down next to it. He pulled out the case with the other three devices in it and laid it out in front of him. "So what you're telling me," he said to the orange device he held, "is that in each one of these is another guys like you?"

"Or girl. But yea, that's about it. And kid, you can turn the screen on now."

"Uh…" Ray tried pressing each of the buttons again. Nothing.

"You don't know how, do you?"

"No."

"Press the two black ones at the same time." Ray did so and the holo-screen popped up with the guy on it. "Much better, huh?" Ray nodded. "OK, intros. Me, I'm Volcanoman. And you would be?"

"Ray." Now that the panic was over, Ray actually got a good look at this Volcanoman. A thick black zigzag line separated his suit into a dark gray bottom half and an orange armored top half. Two mini volcano peaks came off his shoulders, and his arms were dark gray with red gloves and black boots. His black helmet had a pointed front and three orange stripes coming down it and spiked flame colored hair coming out the back. The symbol, which was the two triangles as described before, was in the center of his chest armor only.

"Well then, Ray, if you want some answers as to what you've got here _and_ as to what's been going on recently, just sit back and relax. I've got a recording on here that will explain it all… or most of it." Volcanoman turned and hit a few buttons on a hovering screen behind him. Pretty soon, another window came up with a picture of a guy with glasses and a lab coat. Then it started moving.

The guy smiled. "Hello, my name is Dr. Yuichiro Hikari. If you're watching this it means you have found one of the five devices we have sent to you in order to assist you." Dr. Hikari's face grew more serious. "Let me explain the situation. A highly dangerous Net Criminal and genius, Dr. Regal, has come up with a device to cross dimensions. He is using this device to go to _your_ dimension for some unknown purpose. We are trying to come up with a way to stop him on our end, but we have nothing as of yet. In the mean time, you must use this device to either stop him completely on your side, or at least stall him from doing too much damage until we can stop him here."

Ray was just thinking, _How am I supposed to do that,_ when Dr. Hikari said, "I bet you're wondering just how you're supposed to do that?" Ray unconsciously nodded. "Well, let me explain a bit more about the device you have. It is a Personal Terminal, or P-E-T for short. Specifically, it's a Fusion PET, 'Fusion' being the model. Inside this PET is a humanoid AI computer program known as a Netnavi, short for Net Navigator." Ray glanced up at the corner of the screen where Volcanoman was waving from. "Using your Netnavi and a process called cross-fusion, where a Netop (that's you) and a Netnavi fuse together, you will face off against other evil navis called Darkloids in dimensional areas, the only place where cross-fusion can take place. Dimensional areas allow the real and cyber worlds to meet, thus Netnavis can appear in the real world."

Dr. Hikari paused and looked as though he was trying to remember something. "I think I've covered it all. If you have any questions, you Netnavi will most likely be able to answer them. Good luck." With that, the image disappeared.

"Well…" Volcanoman said.

"Um… interesting," Ray responded slowly.

"Yea, I know, it's a little much to take in, but it's the truth. Any questions?"

"So _I'm_ supposed to fight these guys that keep appearing?"

"Well, you're the one who found the PETs, so yea." Volcanoman shrugged. "It's not like you could just pass it onto anybody else anyway. They wouldn't believe you."

"Couldn't you just play the video again for them?"

"Sorry kid, one time only. It was set to delete itself after I played it for you."

Ray sighed. "Easy come, not so easy go." He glanced at the rest of the PETs. "So am I supposed to use all of these?"

"That's a definite 'no.' Those are for other people." Volcanoman rubbed his chin in thought. "Though now that you mention it, since you found 'em, _you'll_ probably have to find the people to give them to."

"Great…" Ray could just imagine the scenario. _"Here's a futuristic device thingy. Help me save the world."_ He'd get laughed at for sure. Unless… "Well… right now I can only think of one."

"Good. One down, two to go." There was a door slam downstairs. "Whoops, time to shut it down, kid. Hit the two buttons again."

Ray did so and hurriedly shoved the PET back into his backpack with the rest and shoved the bag under the bed. A few seconds after he did, Jessie walked in. This was the one and only reason why Ray regretted having the loft: No door equals no privacy. "What're you doing here?" Ray asked.

"School's over," Jessie said with just a hint of that "Duh" attitude in her voice. Ray glanced at the clock. Geez, time had gone fast.

"Well… then leave. I've got stuff to do." Ray waved a hand at her dismissively.

"Like…"

"Like none of your business."

"Fine," Jessie stuck her tongue out at him as she turned to go. Then she stopped. "What's that?" she asked pointing at the bed.

Ray looked down slowly, already regretting what would be there. The corner of the case was sticking out. "Nothing…" he started to say, but Jessie had already dashed over and taken it out all the way.

She stared at the PETs, obviously not knowing what they were. "Ooo, you stole these didn't you?"

"No, I found them and they're mine. Now give them back." Ray swiped at the case, but Jessie moved back out of range.

"That's what people always say when they steal stuff. They 'found' them."

"You should know," Ray muttered.

"I'm telling Mom and Dad when they get home." She began to walk out.

"No wait!" Ray ran and blocked the way out.

A smirk appeared on Jessie's face. "Alright, what'll you give me?"

Ray rolled his eyes. He hated how she always managed to get him in these kinds of positions. "I'll… let you use my computer any time you want for a week."

"Make it two."

"Fine, now give them back." Jessie held out the case and Ray snatched it before she could withdraw it and say, "sucker" like she sometimes tended to do.

"I wanna use you computer now," she said.

_When's this gonna end?_ "OK, I'm leaving anyway. Don't mess with anything on there." He instantly regretted saying that because now she probably would. Ray grabbed his backpack, slipped the case inside and headed downstairs. "Tell Mom and Dad I'll be back for dinner. I'm going over to Jonas's." Jessie nodded, staring at the screen as the computer booted up.

* * *

Ray dashed across the street to Jonas's house. He was about to knock on the door when he heard Jonas boarding up the street. He waved and Jonas waved back, throwing in a little extra flare by doing it off an ollie. Ray walked back down to the sidewalk to meet his friend. Jonas skidded to a stop in front of him. "Dude, where were you this morning? I didn't see you after that whole alien invasion thingy at school."

Ray took a deep breath. "Actually… that's what I came to talk to you about. During that 'invasion'… I was fighting the 'alien.'"

Jonas stared at him a sec. "I told you being the hero would get you in trouble some day."

"Maybe, but now I want you to help me."

Jonas gave him a blank stare. "Help do what?"

'Well… fight."

Jonas continued to stare blankly. "You're kidding right?"

Ray was about to go on when he heard a muffled sound coming from his bag. Jonas apparently heard it to. "What's that?"

Ray dug into his bag. "Something that can help explain this a lot better than I can." He pulled out the PET.

Jonas jumped back. "Dude, you're not gonna like zap me or something if I don't join, right? I mean, we're best friends an' all…"

"Relax, man, it's not a weapon. Completely." Ray hit the two buttons on the side and the holo screen popped out again.

"Thank you," Volcanoman said. "It was stuffy in there."

"How do you know that? You're a computer program," Ray pointed out.

"Oh. Right. Well anyway, nice to meet you… uh, name please?"

Jonas was staring again, not blankly but in shock. Volcanoman waved a hand in front of him. "Hello-o! Earth to what's-his-name!"

Ray made the intro. "Jonas, this is Volcanoman. Volcanoman, Jonas, my best friend."

"Nice to meet you, Jonas." Volcanoman beamed.

Jonas finally found his voice. "D-d-dude, it's o-o-one of those…"

"He's not an alien, Jonas. He's a Netnavi," Ray explained.

"Net…?"

"Oh, wait, I know what can explain it better." Ray pulled out the case with the other PETs and opened it. Then he stared at them for a moment. "Um… a little help here."

Volcanoman understood. "The green one," he said immediately.

Ray selected the green PET with tan accents and handed it to Jonas. "Here, you can have this one."

Jonas stared at the device in his hand. (_He seemed to be doing a lot of that then._) "Uh…"

Ray sighed. This wasn't going well, but at least Jonas hadn't completely freaked on him. "Here, I'll do it for you." Ray took the device and pressed the two black buttons on the sides of it and quickly gave it back to Jonas. There was an electronic ping and then another holo-screen popped up, hovering over the green PET. On it was a picture of yet another navi. This one had a brown bodysuit with green gloves, boots, and helmet, which was like a regular skater's helmet only with a black visor. He also had dark green pads on his elbows and knees. The symbol, which was a thick tan line on a green field with three smaller dark brown lines on the tan line, was displayed on the backs of his gloves and his chest. "Greetings," he said, smiling pleasantly. "I am Deckman."

Ray nodded understandingly. "That was a good choice," he whispered to Volcanoman. "Jonas loves boarding and that guy looks like one who does too."

Volcanoman shrugged. "Well, there's that. I just picked it cause the other two are girls."

Jonas stared yet again. Ray snickered. Deckman appeared to hear that because he turned around and then saw Volcanoman. "Well, if it isn't Volcanoman. Figures I'd end up with you instead of any of the others."

"Not so," Volcanoman said. "The others are here too, they're just not activated yet. Well, except for Steelman."

Deckman lit up. "You mean we don't have to deal that thick-headed dunce?" he asked eagerly.

"Well…" Volcanoman started.

"We know where he is and he knows where we are," Ray explained. "By the way, I'm Ray. And that dazed person is Jonas. He's kind of not used to this yet."

"I see. A pleasure, I'm sure, Ray. Now if only we could just get him to respond…"

"I'll handle that." Ray said, walking over to Jonas and promptly whacking him over the head.

"Wha- OW! What was that for?"

Ray smiled. "Works every time."

Deckman took over again. "Now before you freeze up again, perhaps you'd like to know what's going on?"

Jonas nodded slowly.

"Very well. Pay attention now."

Deckman played the recording of Dr. Hikari for Jonas, who surprisingly looked more and more interested as it went on. When it finally ended, he exploded. "Whoa, this is so cool! We get to be like superheroes or something!"

Deckman stared at him. "Beg pardon, but is this the same person who was overwhelmed a few minutes ago?"

Ray nodded. "You get used to it… eventually. Anyway…" Ray stood up to go. "You two get acquainted, I've gotta go. And Jonas…" Jonas looked up. "No telling anyone, go it?"

Jonas nodded and Ray walked away, smiling at the conversation behind him.

"So do you, like, know any cool moves?"

"I'm not quite certain what you mean…"

"You know, skating moves. You can do super cool out-of-this-world moves right?"

"Well, I do throw in an extra flare during combat."

"What's 'combat?'"

* * *

Ray arrived home just as his mom was setting the table for dinner. "Hey Mom," he greeted her.

"Oh good, I was just about to send Jessie over to get you. Wash your hands and come sit down," Mrs. Hall replied.

Ray nodded, silently relieved and his good luck. Jessie showing up would've been especially bad.

When he came back to the table, the rest of the family was there already. Ray sat down and the food began to be passed.

"So, how was school, honey?" Mrs. Hall said, starting off the dinnertime conversation.

Ray shrugged, helping himself to a big mound of mashed potatoes. "OK, I guess. We only had a half-day. One of those 'incidents.'"

Both parents glanced at each other while Jessie looked thoughtful… in a bad way. "Are you alright?" His mom said, concerned.

"Yea, I'm fine. Nobody got hurt. The guys just came, did what they had to, and left."

Jessie piped up. "Ray brought something weird home today."

Ray froze for a moment, glancing at his parents.

"What kind of thing was it?" Mr. Hall asked.

"I don't know," Jessie said, feigning innocence. "But it looked electronic."

Ray didn't know what to do at the moment. He thought of faking sickness, but that would only make them more suspicious.

"Ray, what's this all about?" Mrs. Hall asked.

"Oh, _that_," Ray said, winking at his parents. "Just something I picked up at school. I think one of those alien guys dropped it."

Ray's parents got the impression that this was some sort of game Ray and Jessie were playing. "Really?" Mr. Hall said, chuckling.

"Yea, I burnt down a tree with it at school by accident." Which was technically true. "I was just fooling around with it, then ZAP! This tree next to me was just a pile of ashes."

"Well, at least you didn't hurt yourself." Mrs. Hall said, smiling. There was a moment's pause then the two adults began laughing. Ray grinned across the table at Jessie who was fuming.

* * *

After dinner, Ray went up to his room to hang a little while before bed. He flopped down on his bed. "Nice save." Volcanoman's voice came from his pocket.

"To be honest I made it up as I went," Ray said quietly. He didn't want to attract attention while everyone else was home.

"Whatever, it got your parents of our back… for the moment."

"Yea, Jessie will probably try to get us caught somehow. But she doesn't know about you."

Volcanoman laughed. "Small favors. Anyway, we should probably find someone for those last two as soon as possible then.

"I'll work on it at school tomorrow. Two girls, right?"

"Yea."

"Great…" Ray had never been the best at relating to girls. And the situation made it all the more difficult. "Well, good night then… or do you not sleep?"

"I go into Stand-by mode. Just wake me up the usual way if you need me. Good night." There was a small ping and then silence.

Ray rolled over and turned off the light next to his bed. _Two girls, eh? Maybe Jonas knows some…

* * *

_

**Dr. Regal's lair**

"They were using cross-fusion I'm sure of it," Sparkman reported. "But they weren't like any PETs I've seen."

Dr. Regal sat back, thinking. "So that's what has been going on at Scilab these past few months: The production of new PETs. And then they linked up to my rift generator in order to send them to someone on the other side so _they_ could stop me. Very ingenious, Hikari…"

"What are we going to do about it?" Ms. Yuri asked.

"We will wait and watch. When the generator has recharged we will find out just who are enemy is… and their weaknesses…"

* * *

Just what is Regal planning? You really think I'm going to tell you? I will tell you one thing though… It's time to Review! Later days! 


	7. Recruiting

Heigh-ho! Ch. 7, woo hoo and all that, just read it. (I'm not that good at intros, if you can't tell.)

* * *

"Ray? Ra-a-ay? C'mon, wake up already, kid!"

Ray rolled over to swipe at whoever was disturbing him, but no one was there. He sat up, confused.

"What, did you forget about me already?"

It all clicked back in. "Oh right. Sorry." He reached over to turn on the light and retrieve the orange device from his lamp stand. "What're you doing waking me up? I thought _I_ got _you_ up."

"Sorry, it's in the basic programming of a Netnavi, I guess. Can't argue with that. Time for school anyway I think. It's nearly 6:30."

"Oh yeah, and today we gotta find those two other recruits." Ray flung off his covers and stood up, stretching.

"Nice boxers, kid." Ray started, staring at the device he held. "Whoops, did I say that out loud?" Ray nodded slowly. "Well, then sorry."

"You can still see me in there?"

"Yea, I can. But I won't peek when you're changing."

"Thanks…"

* * *

Later, Ray walked out the door and across the street to Jonas's house. He was leaving early again, but this time he wanted Jonas to come with him. Volcanoman's PET was strapped to Ray's right wrist, hidden by his sleeve. The other two PETs were in his backpack, along with the case. He hopped up Jonas's front steps and beat on the door. Jonas answered it. "Dude, what're you doing here?"

"Going to school of course. What's it look like? Coming?"

"Yea, sure. Lemme just grab my stuff. And… that thing," Jonas added, winking.

"Right…" Ray sat down on the bottom step, waiting. "Seems like he got along OK."

"Him, yes. Deckman, who knows. I was fine, thanks for asking," Volcanoman responded.

"Well, you didn't complain, so I just assumed."

Jonas came bounding down the steps, and jumped past onto his board. "C'mon, man, let's go!"

"Wait up!" Ray ran after him, trying to catch up. As he jumped out onto the sidewalk, he collided with someone he hadn't seen coming from the other direction. He landed on his butt right back on the step he had just come off of.

Zoaya fumbled with her open laptop as she fell, managing to hang onto it, keeping it above her while she landed on the ground. "Hey, watch it!"

Ray stood up and dusted himself off. "Sorry. You OK?"

Zoaya remained sitting on the ground as she hurriedly checked over her laptop. "Yes, and lucky for you, my laptop is as well."

"Well, once again, sorry. I just wasn't paying attention." He held out a hand to help her up.

"I guess I wasn't either. Too absorbed in the Net." She took hold of his hand, and lifted herself up, but as she did, she felt his PET on his wrist. "What's that?"

Ray stared at her blankly, trying not to give anything away. "What's what?"

"That thing on your wrist."

Ray was about to say something about a fancy watch, when Zoaya grabbed his wrist and slid his sleeve up, inspecting the device. "Whoa, this thing is awesome!" she exclaimed. "Where'd you get it?"

"Uh…" Ray was at a total loss for words.

"I don't suppose you'd want one?"

Zoaya glanced up at Ray. "Please tell me that voice didn't just come from this thing," she said, tapping the device.

Ray found his voice. "OK, it didn't, nice to meet you, bye," he said in a rush, yanking his arm out of Zoaya's grip and beginning to walk away.

"Easy there, kid, I know what I'm doing. Turn on the screen."

Ray sighed. "Fine, your call." He turned around, held his arm out and pressed the two black buttons on the sides.

Zoaya's eyes widened when the holographic screen popped up with Volcanoman on it. "Hiya. So I hear you're interested in one of these here devices?" he said.

Zoaya took the whole thing in stride, not phased the least bit by this new appearance. She began talking faster, not out of anxiety, but out of excitement. "Oh yes, definitely. They're the most technologically advanced things I've ever seen. It's like they're not even from this planet." Zoaya realized what she had just said. "Wait a second, you're one of those guys that keep attacking us!"

Volcanoman put up his hands. "Yes and no. I'm not one of them, but I am like them. But answer the question straight. Do you want one? If you say 'yes' you'll be accepting a big responsibility. If you say 'no' however, my friend Ray here will have to kill you."

"What!" Ray yelled.

"I'm kidding. Geez, you people have no sense of humor. You'd just have to follow her around the rest of her life and make sure she never tells anyone about this."

Ray just glared at him while Zoaya laughed.

Volcanoman ignored him and turned back to Zoaya. "So answer me… what's-your-name."

"It's Zoaya, but you can call me 'Z.' I say yes."

"Congratulations," Volcanoman said, beaming. "You get to join the ever growing team of… well, us. We haven't exactly come up with a name yet."

"We need a name now?" Ray said digging out the other two PETs. He held them out to Zoaya. "Your pick."

Zoaya thought a moment before snatching both.

"Hey!" Ray shouted. "You only get one!"

"This one's for me," she said, waving the purple one. "The other's for a friend of mine. She needs some… relational assistance and it seems like this might help, considering you two."

Ray glanced at Volcanoman. "Well…?"

"Hey, it saves us the job. Just remember you can't tell anyone about it."

Zoaya nodded. "You can count on me!"

"Great, now to activate it, just press the two black buttons on the side of the thing."

Zoaya nodded again. There was a pause.

"You're not gonna do it now?" Volcanoman asked.

Zoaya shook her head. "I want me and my friend to do it at the same time."

"Whatever suits you, just check back in with us after. We'll wait outside by the flagpole after school."

"Gotcha. Catch you later then." With that, Zoaya whizzed off down the street.

"Well, that was easier then I thought it would be," Ray said, shutting off the screen.

"It's all in the attitude," Volcanoman said. "When you see an opportunity, take it, no matter how risky. Now, shouldn't we get to school? I swear I heard a bell."

"What! Why didn't you say so!" Ray ran down the street at top speed, Volcanoman laughing all the way.

* * *

The first half of the day was as uneventful as it had been yesterday. Ray briefed Jonas on the status of the other PETs and told him about the meeting after school. Later, Ray saw Bruce during lunch, but they both ignored each other. Ray also noticed a lump in Bruce's pocket, assumingly the PET.

The next lunch period after Ray's, Zoaya walked into the cafeteria and spotted Sasha sitting by herself at a table in the corner. "Hey, remember me?" she said walking over. "I don't suppose anyone's sitting here?"

Sasha shook her head and moved her stuff to make room. "I didn't know you were in lunch this period."

Zoaya grinned, sitting down. "Of course you wouldn't, we never got to this period yesterday. How'd it go at home afterwards?"

Sasha sighed. "My mom was all concerned as usual, trying to prove to my dad we should move again, but he wouldn't listen. My little twin brothers kept asking me if I'd seen any aliens. I said, 'No, I just made a new friend.'" She smiled at Zoaya.

"You know," Zoaya started, standing up. "I feel the need to stretch my legs. Wanna come with?"

"But… you haven't even eaten yet," Sasha pointed out.

"Eatin's for wimps," Zoaya remarked off-handedly. "Just kidding," she added, when she saw Sasha's look. "I'll eat later. C'mon." Sasha gathered her stuff, tossed her trash out, and hurried to catch up with Zoaya who was already halfway across the room.

The two of them walked out the side door where most kids went if they finished eating early. "This way," Zoaya said, leading around the back of the building.

"Why are we going back here?" Sasha asked, confused.

Zoaya sat down on the grass against the wall. Sasha did so as well. "There's something I need to give you and no one else can know about it." Zoaya slipped off her bag and dug around in it for a minute. "Ah, here we are," she said pulling out the two devices. She held out the tan one to Sasha. "This one's for you."

Sasha took it cautiously. "What are they?"

Zoaya shrugged. "Not exactly sure, but we're about to find out. Press those two black buttons on the sides. Ready?" Sasha nodded nervously. "It's gonna be OK, trust me. I've seen someone else do this. 1… 2… 3… Now!"

Both of them pressed the buttons. There was a small electronic ping from each one, then their holo-screens activated. Zoaya grinned. "Awesome…" A female navi appeared on her screen. "How's it goin'? Name's Charge," it said.

At the same time, another one appeared on Sasha's screen. "I'm Tide and it's awful nice to meet you whoever you are!"

Sasha glanced at Zoaya nervously. Zoaya was a little too busy with Charge to notice. "My name's Zoaya, but you can call me 'Z.'"

"Z, eh?" Charge grinned. "I like you already." Charge had a gray bodysuit with short sleeves, a yellow armor plate on her upper chest with the symbol to the left on this with curved pointed blade-like edges on the shoulder part. Yellow, curved lightning bolts pointed down on her hips and a lightning bolt shaped stripe slanted down near her ankles. At the center of the armor, a purple diamond with a gold lightning bolt at the center was placed. Her gloves, with a good three inch space between them and the sleeves, had the fingers cut off, a gold armor like coating on them which was shorter than the glove itself and had a triangle like cut near the elbow with yellow, blade-like fins coming off the sides. She also had gold colored boots with yellow fins coming off the back like wings. The helmet was gray with a saw-like, gold center ridge flanked by two yellow ridges. Her hair was separated into two separate, pointed bang pieces, and also spiked out in the back, slightly past her shoulders. Her symbol was a gray background with a gold circle in the center with four purple lightning bolts branching from this. In between each of the bolts was a gold dash on the outer edge of the circle.

Tide could sense that Sasha was nervous. "Don't worry," she said cheerfully. "I'm going to be your friend!"

"Really?"

"Yes! But I'd really like to know my new friend's name."

"I'm Sasha."

"Hi, Sasha! I'm Tide but you already know that." Tide had a tan jumper with a wavy, dark blue hem over a light blue bodysuit with short, bell sleeves. Her symbol was at the center of the jumper with a bit of a dark-blue drop coming off it. She had light blue gloves and boots and a light blue helmet with a wavy dark blue line in the center. Her brown hair was in a wide, mid-height ponytail at the back of her helmet, and her bangs were short and curling around in front. Her symbol was a tan left half and a dark blue right half separated by a wavy light blue vertical line.

Zoaya seemed to remember Sasha was there again. "How's yours going?"

"OK, I guess. She seems nice. But what is she?"

The navis noticed each other as well. "Charge! Is it really you?"

"Yea, it's me. I assuming it's really you over there too, unless that dumb Steelman is playing some twisted trick. Oh wait, I forgot, he's not smart enough to do that." Both navis laughed.

"You two know each other?" Sasha asked.

"Sure we do," Charge said. "We just haven't seen each other in a while."

"And we thought we wouldn't see each other again because we might have gotten separated when they sent us over," Tide added in. "I wonder where the others ended up? I just hope they're happy."

"Others, huh?" Zoaya said. "Well, I know where at least one more is."

"You do?" Tide asked hopefully. "Who was it?"

"Dunno. I got you guys from this guy named Ray. Ring any bells?" Zoaya asked.

"Nope," Charge shook her head. "But did he have a navi?"

"Navi?" Sasha asked. "What's that?"

Charge slapped her forehead. "Oh right, we haven't shown you the tape yet. You wanna do it or should I, Tide?"

"Oh let me please!" Tide said, immediately turning to hit a few controls.

"Hold up there. First let's find out who the other guy was." Charge turned back to Zoaya. "Did this Ray guy have device like these?"

"Uh-huh."

"Did he show you his screen?"

"Yea, actually. It was this navi guy's idea to give them to me. I can't really remember but I think he had flame-colored hair…"

"That's gotta be Volcanoman!" Charge concluded. "No else has hair like that or would take an initiative like that. OK, Tide, _now_ you can roll the tape."

"Do pay attention!"

(insert Hikari recording, blah, blah, blah XD)

"Well…" Charge prompted.

"So you guys are from a different dimension where technological advancement has shot sky high?" Zoaya asked excitedly.

"Yup."

"And you're actually AI computer programs?"

"Yup."

"Aw man, this just keeps getting better!" Zoaya exclaimed.

"But what about the other part of it?" Sasha asked quietly. "Didn't he say we had to fight the other ones that have been coming?"

"Yes, that's true," Tide answered. "But don't worry, Sasha, I don't like to fight either, but it's what I was made for, so I'll help you all I can!"

"Yea, you can count on us!" Charge said, jabbing a thumb toward herself.

"I think the period's almost over," Sasha observed. "Everyone else has gone back inside."

"OK, shut 'em down then," Zoaya said. "We're getting together with this Ray guy after school, so you can see for yourself who your friend is," she told the navis.

"Oh wonderful!" Tide said.

Charge nodded satisfactorily. "Later," she said as the screens shut down.

Zoaya shoved hers in her pocket, while Sasha carefully placed hers in a side pocket of her bag. "After school at the flagpole," Zoaya directed.

Sasha nodded and headed back inside, followed soon afterward by Zoaya.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, they all met before the end of the school day. The final period all of them had Health together, so it was pretty nice to work out that way, being one of those mixed grade classes. Unfortunately, Bruce was in the class as well. Ray, Jonas, Zoaya, and Sasha sat in the back corner where they could talk. Zoaya was in the very corner with Sasha next to her; Jonas was in front of Sasha and Ray in front of Zoaya. Bruce found a place across the room.

"Well, this is pretty convenient." Ray said.

"Yea, it's almost as if some higher power arranged it all for us…" Zoaya remarked, grinning knowingly. "Anyway, I've met you," she said pointing at Ray. "But who's your friend?"

"I could say the same for you," Ray responded. "This is my best bud, Jonas." Jonas waved slightly.

Zoaya let Sasha introduce herself. "What is this all about exactly?" she asked.

"That's why we're meeting after school," Ray explained. "But I don't want to do it at my house. My little sister is already suspicious."

"You have a little sister?" Sasha asked. "I wish I did. I just have two younger twin brothers."

"Well, trust me, you don't want this one," Ray assured her.

"My place is cool," Jonas suggested. "My mom doesn't get home 'till late so it's just me."

Ray nodded. "Jonas's it is then. After the bell, grab your stuff and meet out by the flagpole like we planned."

Then the teacher came to the front of the room and they had to stop. Class seemed to go extremely slow, which it always seems to do whenever you're doing something you're looking forward to directly afterwards. Ray noticed that Bruce kept glancing back at their group, but he stayed quiet the whole time. Ray wondered if they should include him or not, even though he was a jerk.

Finally, the bell rang. As everyone filed out, Ray nodded to the rest of the group, then hurried to catch up to Bruce. "Hey Bruce!"

Bruce didn't turn to face him, but did slow down so he could catch up. "What d'you want, Hall," he grumbled, staring at the ground as he walked. "I haven't done anything."

"Well, it's just that… you know those things we found yesterday?" Ray asked.

"What? The PETs?" Bruce looked up. "Steelman told me all about those."

"Then you know the real reason why--"

"Oh lay off, Ray!" Bruce said, waving a hand. "You really think we can save the world or whatever it is we're supposed to do? Don't give me that hero crap, why should we really do this?"

Ray stared at him. "Because it's the right thing and no one else can do it," he said softly. "The rest of us are meeting at Jonas's house today. Come if you want, but if you don't want to be a part of our team, _do not_ get in our way." With that, Ray walked off toward his locker.

"You did good, kid."

Ray jumped a little. "What happened to not letting anyone know you're here?" he whispered, bending his head slightly toward the device on his wrist as he opened his locker.

"Relax, you really think anyone's gonna notice in this crowd. Anyway, personally I wouldn't like to see that guy show up 'cause of Steelman, but he does have a legitimate reason so if he does I won't argue it."

"You're right, let's go!" Ray threw what he didn't need into the bottom of the locker, slammed it shut and weaved through the crowd.

* * *

Woohoo… Yup, I'm excited if you couldn't tell. Excited that this chapter is over and I get to work on _another _one. (sigh) It's a hard life being a writer… 'specially when _some_ people don't review… At least I'm picking up a new audience who does. (beam) …….What, you don't get the hint? That's your cue to go and submit long reviews that will motivate me to continue my brilliant work. Later days! 


	8. First Test

Aaahhh, I love the smell of fresh print in the morning… even though text on a screen technically isn't print. Sorry about the long delay. School caused me temporarily lose interst in writing. Whatever, moving on to the story.

* * *

The other three were already waiting for Ray when he got there. Jonas caught him as he came up. "Where you been man?" he hissed. "People've been giving me some weird looks."

Ray laughed to himself. Jonas with girls? That'd be the day. "_Anyway, _let's go," Ray said, motioning to the two girls.

They were about to walk away when… "Where do you think you're going, Hall?"

Sasha gasped and put a hand to her mouth when she saw the imposing figure of Bruce. Zoaya merely stood there and blinked. Ray turned around to face him, grinning. "Nice of you to join us. What took you so long?" He turned back to the rest of the team. "Meet member #5, guys."

Zoaya raised an eyebrow. Sasha smiled nervously and waved a tiny little bit. Jonas just stared.

"Yea whatever, let's just get goin'," Bruce grumbled.

The five of them set off, Jonas leading. The two girls chatted quietly in the middle. Ray hung to the back with Bruce. For some unknown reason, he felt that he had to make Bruce feel as though he was really part of this team. Because of their previous dealings with him, with the exception of Sasha, the others mostly stayed away from him and from what Ray had heard from Volcanoman, the navis preferred not to hang around with his Steelman either.

For a few minutes the two of them walked silently, Bruce had his hands in his pockets and was staring at the ground a few feet in front of him as he went. Ray decided to take a stab. "So… why'd you come?" Bruce said nothing. "It's not that I have a problem with it or anything…"

"Why are _you _doing this?" Bruce suddenly said. "Why're you being so nice?"

Ray was caught off guard and totally lost for words. Bruce continued, shaking his head. "I don't get you, Hall. Yesterday, you're all up in my face, threatening to rat off on me, and today you're being all nice and everything. What is with you?!"

Ray observed that there was silence ahead of them. "Someone's gotta break the ice," Ray said quietly. "If this is gonna work, we better get over whatever went on before, for the good of the team."

Bruce stopped walking and stared at him. "'For the good of the team?' You're starting to sound you already appointed yourself leader."

"And you think you could do a better job?"

"I know I can."

"Give me a break, Bruce. Nobody here trusts you!" Ray said, his voice rising. "That's one important thing a leader should have: the trust of his team. And it's something they have to _earn_. So I suggest you get working on it." With that, Ray turned and walked on, through the others who had stopped a ways up. Then they followed him.

Bruce was left standing by himself. "Feh, who needs 'em?"

"We sure don't. We'll do just fine by ourselves and we'll show 'em, right?"

"You got that right. Let's go, Steelman." But as he left, Bruce hesitated a moment and glanced back at the others walking off in the opposite direction.

Jonas opened the front door to his house and let everyone in. "Just don't break anything," he advised. "My mom'll throw a fit."

Ray nodded in agreement. Jonas's mom could go off major if you did the right thing to set her off. The four of them took seats in the living room, Zoaya and Sasha taking the couch, and Ray claiming the big armchair in the corner, leaving Jonas to drag in an extra chair from the dining room. "C'mon, it's my house an' all…" he grumbled, but got the chair anyway.

"I think the first thing we should do is let all the navis see each other again," Ray concluded. "Good with you?" he said, reaching to press the two buttons. The rest nodded and activated each of the their holo-screens. Immediately the navis began conversing back and forth as if the humans weren't there, greeting each other.

"Well hiya, Volcanoman. I thought I'd never see your ugly mug again."

"Ha ha, Charge, nice to see you too."

"It's so good seeing everyone again, don't you think so, Deckman?"

"Yes, I concur. We are extremely fortunate that we should have this opportunity."

Charge sighed contentedly. "This is the way it should be. All of us, and no Steelman."

Volcanoman glanced at Ray, while the other two expressed their agreement.

"Yes, that one can be a detriment to our operations at some times."

"Well, I don't really want to exclude him, it is true that he just gets annoying after a while."

"Why don't you guys like him?" Ray asked quietly.

Charge answered for the group. "'Cause he's a big selfish jerk. Don't even know why they programmed him that way," she added in a mumble.

"Actually," Deckman corrected, "Netnavi personalities develop on their own."

"Whatever," Ray said, breaking up what was turning into a technical conversation. "The point is, he's still part of your team isn't he? I don't care for Bruce that much either, but I still gave him the opportunity to join us today."

"Yea, Ray and Bruce don't have a very good history," Volcanoman explained. "Why, on the day they found us, Bruce tried to off Ray during cross-fusion."

"Wait a second," Zoaya interjected. "You've already done this thing?"

"Once, yes," Ray admitted. "But I didn't really know what I was doing. I was just lucky 'cause the bad guy ran away for some weird reason."

"Sparkman," Volcanoman corrected.

Ray stared at him a second. "You know who these guys are?"

"We have a database of all the known Darkloids loaded into the PETs, but I've never met any personally… except Sparkman now," Volcanoman explained.

"So how many are there?" Sasha asked nervously.

"Quite are few," Deckman said. "By Dr. Hikari's count, they have encountered around fifteen different Darkloids."

"Fifteen too many, if you ask me," Charge muttered.

"Only fifteen?" Zoaya asked. "Then our job should be done fairly quickly."

"Not exactly," Volcanoman explained. "You see, when a Darkloid, or any navi for that matter, sustains a certain amount of damage, they 'log out,' surviving to fight another day."

"Oh…" Zoaya said.

"Yes, but it doesn't always work like that," he went on. "If a navi should choose not to log out, or take a large amount of damage before they have the opportunity to, they are 'deleted,' gone until Dr. Regal finds some way to regenerate them, which he most likely will. In either of these cases for us, you would lose cross-fusion."

"So if they take a lot of damage, they just leave and if we take a lot of damage, we lose cross-fusion?" Zoaya clarified.

Charge nodded. "And you can't do it again until we've recovered sufficiently, so if everybody happens to lose, you're pretty much hosed."

"That's not gonna happen though," Ray said quickly, noting Sasha starting to look very uncomfortable. "We can handle it right? And we'll all watch out for each other."

"How we gonna let each other know where one of the dome thingys is when we spot it though?" Jonas wondered.

"They're called dimensional areas," Deckman put in. "Please refer to them correctly now that you have been educated." Jonas pulled a face, but Deckman ignored him and went on. "Each of your PETs is wired to a private communications network. You can call each other anytime you need to… or rather we can hook it up for you."

Ray's PET suddenly made a soft beep and Volcanoman checked one of the readouts. "Speaking of which, incoming call, audio only. I wonder who it's from…?" Volcanoman asked, faking a thoughtful look.

Ray rolled his eyes as the call picked up. Immediately, Ray recognized Bruce's voice, as if anyone else could have contacted him this way. He was obviously in the middle of something. "Hall, I hate to admit it but I'm in big trouble! Some guy's tearing up the park! Get down here now!" Then the transmission cut out.

Ray immediately stood up, shut off his screen and headed for the door. "You heard him. C'mon!"

The others followed his lead, Jonas staying back a little longer in order to lock up. As he dashed toward the park, Ray caught a glance of Jessie just getting home from school. She watched him with a curious eye for a moment, then shrugged and went inside.

* * *

The park was in flames inside the dome. Bruce held up an arm across his face in order to shield it from the intense heat, despite the fact his visor was on. He hadn't seen the guy responsible yet, but other matters pressed him now… such as finding a way to put out this inferno. _This is bad…_

_You said it. Any ideas?_

_Got anything that can spread around dirt?_

A moment then: _Best I can come up with._

Bruce's right arm turned into a giant drill. "Cool." On his command, the drill began spinning at high speed and he rammed it into the soft earth. Dirt sprayed everywhere as Bruce strained not to be dragged down by the power of the drill. The dirt landed on some patches of fire, but did nothing against the entire blaze. _Crud! Ray and the others better get here soon…_

Meanwhile, outside the dome, Ray and the group had arrived. "Now how do we get in?" Ray voiced his thoughts out loud.

"Aim you PET at the dome then hit the red button on the back of it," Volcanoman instructed. Ray did so and heard what sounded like vibrating sound waves. Soon a bunch of the hexagons had broken away to form a small but accessible hole in the side of the dome. "Nice," Ray said, lowering his arm.

"Better hurry. It won't last long."

"Right. Let's go," he said, waving to the other three and diving into the hole. He rolled, and then stood up. "This place is a mess."

"You know what to do, kid. The others' navis will help them out. You just get going."

"OK, here goes." Ray gripped the symbol on his PET and turned it a quarter turn to the right. The others watched in amazement from where they stood just inside the hole as it began to glow then it broke up and transformed Ray into CF-Volcanoman. (Now we get to the descriptions.) He looked incredibly similar to regular Volcanoman as was expected but he had some added details such as added light gray lines coming across the suit on his arms and legs as well as an added loose collar around his neck. Also, instead Volcanoman's typical flame colored hair spiking out the back, it was Ray's hair color, and there was also an added fire-like design on the boots and gloves. The outer orange stripes on the helmet had turned to red fins with flat tops and pointed ends, and the volcano peaks had added wavy orange stripes on each side, each with a yellow center stripe. Finally, he had a black mouth guard with red along the top edge and a translucent red visor that covers the distance from the helmet to the mouth guard. He turned and winked at his friends, then shot off toward the center of the park.

"Whoa…" Jonas said, staring.

Sasha just stared, but Zoaya was a bit more animated. "Awesome!!" she shouted, dancing around excitedly. "How do I do that?!"

"Alright, calm down," Charge said, trying not to laugh. "All you gotta do is twist the symbol on your PET…" Charge would've said more, but Zoaya was way ahead of her. Pretty soon, CF-Charge was on the scene. The hair was the same only it was Zoaya's color, the bangs styled like Zoaya's as well. The bodysuit was no sleeve and the gloves were lengthened, ending with a wide, yellow stripe. The gold fins on the gloves had an extra point to them, and the yellow ridges on her helmet had fanned and spiked out. She had a purple lightning bolt in the middle of her boot-fins, as well as an added, yellow fin on the heel. A two-pointed purple lightning bolt came out from under her armor, as well as a purple diamond wrapping around her thighs.

Zoaya turned her hand over as she inspected it. "This is cool beyond belief," she breathed.

_It gets better. You ready for some combat?_

"Ready as I'll ever be."

_Great! Now we just gotta find the guy who's responsible for this…_

"_That_ I can handle." Zoaya turned back to Sasha, who was still staring in half shock, half amazement. "You gonna be OK?" Sasha was aware enough to manage a nod, so Zoaya took off.

"It's alright, Sasha," Tide said from the PET. "We don't have to fight. We can just deal with putting out all these fires. Is that OK with you?"

Sasha relaxed a bit. "Yea, I guess so."

"Great!" If Sasha could've seen Tide's face, she guessed she would be beaming all over. "But we still have to go into cross-fusion. Are you ready?"

Sasha gulped. "Uh-huh."

"I guess I'd better get to it, too," Jonas sighed.

"Correct," Deckman answered. "Rotate the symbol 90 degrees."

"Huh?"

"Just turn it," Deckman sighed, shaking his head despairingly.

"OK." Both Jonas and Sasha turned theirs at the same time, revealing CF-Deckman and CF-Tide.

Jonas looked the same as Deckman had before but with tan stripes cutting across his arms, legs, and chest diagonally as well as added tan ridges to the helmet. The normally plain dark green pads on his elbows and knees now had burgundy diamonds in the center of them. Also his visor was just a little bit more translucent. Deckman's board appeared at Jonas's feet. It had a tan deck with burgundy edging and a green underside.

Tide's jumper became a normal bodysuit on Sasha with a light blue wavy line separating a tan top half and a dark blue bottom half. Two tan ridges flanked the helmet, and dark blue wavy lines were added to the edges of her boots and gloves. Also her symbol was entirely inside a water drop design on her chest.

Jonas's main attention was focused on the board. He placed a foot on it cautiously, watching it bob up and down due to the added weight as it hovered in front of him. "Sweet…"

_Indeed. Care to go for a ride?_

Jonas was too distracted by the board to notice the fact that there was a voice in his head. He automatically jumped on and shoved off, getting to top speed in a few seconds. "YEEHAW!!" he yelled, throwing in a 360 Nosegrab off an ollie.

Sasha was as amazed as any of them. "Uh, Tide…?"

_Don't worry, I'm still here. Let's get to work putting out these fires, alright?_

"Alright…"

* * *

Ray ran as fast as could, weaving through the fires and avoiding panicked "crazies." _The last thing I need is one of those guys trailing me, _he thought.

_Good plan. I think I spotted the guy up ahead._

_Gotcha._ Ray slowed as he approached a tree near where the Darkloid was. _Hey, that's the guy who attacked the museum that first day!_

_Burnerman,_ Volcanoman confirmed. _Figures this is his doing._

_Time to shut him down. What've we got to work with?_

_Focus on the visor in front of your eyes. I'll upload a list of the Battlechip data we have on board._

Ray peered at the inside of the visor only a few inches in front of his eyes. He placed a hand over the outside of it in order to help him focus better. _Lessee… Why not stick with something we know? Fire Sword it is._

_OK, and for future reference you can say it out loud and it'll load in automatically, _Volcanoman said as the flame sword loaded in.

"Got it. Here goes." Ray leaped forward and came down on Burnerman, blade raised above his head.

"Wha?!" Burnerman shot out a burst of blue flame from his hand and locked Ray's sword with it. "Where did you come from?!" he demanded.

"What does it matter? I'm here to take you down!" Ray said, pushing on his sword.

It was then that Burnerman seemed to notice Ray's peculiar eye color. _Oh wait… crap, _he thought as recognition set in. _I can take him._ He backed off and aimed a jet of flame at Ray.

Ray reacted quickly shielding himself by holding his sword in the path of the attack. _I know they say "Fight fire with fire," but this is way too literal…_ _Scratch the Fire Sword._ The sword transformed back into Ray's glove. _Any ideas?_

Hit 'em from below. Punch the ground and say "Eruption." Remember to focus on where you want to hit because that's really important.

"Sure," Ray said, shrugging. He brought his fist back and slammed into the ground. "Eruption!" He stared right at the spot beneath Burnerman's feet. _That should do it right there…_

Burnerman hardly had time to think before a tower of lava shot out of the ground directly beneath him. "Whoa!" He was thrown up and landed a few feet away on his back. "Ow…" He got up, none too pleased. "Alright, no more Mr. Nice Guy."

Ray raised an eyebrow. "He was nice to begin with?"

"Burning Jet!" All of Burnerman's jets ignited, sending him zooming toward Ray, leaving a trail of flames behind him.

"Too fast to dodge," Ray realized. He braced for impact.

* * *

Zoaya was trekking through the park when she nearly got ran over by a certain high-speed boarder. "What the!?" She dived out of the way just in time. Jonas swerved and pulled around, skidding to a stop.

"Sorry," he said, grinning sheepishly. "Too excited."

"Mind if I tag a ride?" Zoaya asked, gazing at the hovering board.

"I dunno. It's seems a bit--" Before Jonas could say anything else, the board extended itself, creating a comfortable space for two riders. "Small?"

Zoaya hopped on the back end. "Alright! Let's see if we can round up some of these civilians and take them to a safer place."

Jonas shrugged, climbing onto the front. "Sure." The both of them shoved off and were soon cruising along.

Sasha, meanwhile, was getting more familiar with the technicalities of her abilities. Tide had taught her that her attacks all depended on her emotions. Lucky for her, she needed little power to simply put out fires and they had secured a wide area of the park.

There's another fire over there, Sasha, to your left.

"Alright, I got it." Sasha took a deep breath and focused for a moment. "Ocean Breaker!" she said, bringing her arms forward in a fluid motion. A large wave rose up in front of her and slid off in the direction of the blaze, crashing onto it and leaving smoking grass and trees behind. "This is getting easier," she remarked.

Practice makes perfect, and you're doing a great job. 

"Thanks Tide."

* * *

"Steel Curtain!" A solid steel wall rose up between Ray and Burnerman. Ray could hear the crunch as Burnerman rammed into it at high speed. He winced.

"Ooo… That's gotta hurt… Thanks Bruce."

Bruce walked up. "What, you think I was trying to save you? I just wanted him to go down," he huffed.

Ray rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Bruce, let's just finish this up."

The Steel Curtain vanished revealing a distinctly groggy, but still mad Burnerman. "He stood up slowly and unsteadily, holding his head with one hand. "You'll… pay for… that," he got out, pointing the jet on his other hand toward them. "Blue Flame." The fire shot forth and kept coming, moving back and forth as Burnerman moved his arm from side to side, preventing them from getting any closer.

The two of them jumped back a little. "Now what?" Bruce demanded.

"He can't block everything with just that one flame. I'll distract him, then you go around behind him, OK?" Ray suggested.

Bruce pounded his knuckles into his palm. "Let's do it."

"Magma Blaster!" Ray shot out his two streams of lava to intersect Burnerman's one flame. Burnerman was forced to add another blast to the fight. The two of them stood there ground against each other, pushing for an edge as the blue jets of flame blasted against the twin orange flow of the lava.

"You think you can defeat me?" Burnerman demanded. "My fire power is greater than yours any day."

"Maybe," Ray said shrugging, a difficult feat when you got two cannons on your shoulders blasting lava. "But you're not more powerful than my friend."

"Wha?" Burnerman turned to see Bruce just standing there behind him.

"See ya. Steel Fist!" Bruce's raised fist charged up and he brought it swinging into Burnerman's gut. Ray took the opportunity of Burnerman going down to spray him with his Magma Blaster at full power.

_Burnerman, logging out._

Burnerman's form twisted into the words "Log Out" and then he vanished. Very soon afterward, the dimensional area shut down, the fire around them dying down as well. Ray and Bruce's armor dissipated and reformed into their PETs on their wrists. Ray turned to Bruce. "Nice teamwork." Bruce shrugged and walked away, muttering something about just wanting to pound somebody. Ray just watched him. "I think he's taken the bait…"

"Possibly," Volcanoman responded. Just then, the rest of the group came up to him.

"How'd it go?" Zoaya asked. "Kick any bad guy butt?" Ray nodded. "What?! You mean I missed it?!"

Ray rolled his eyes and smiled as the other s laughed. "How'd you guys do?" he asked.

"Jonas and me rounded up all the people stuck out here," Zoaya reported. "They were too panicked to argue. We got out of there just as the area shut down, so I don't think they saw who we really were."

"I took care of most of the fires," Sasha said shyly. "It was actually kind of… fun."

Ray grinned. "This team sure is forming up well. Good for our first mission, but there will be more, and I'm pretty sure they won't all be as easy, so be ready. You guys can go home and I'll meet you at school tomorrow."

The rest nodded and shouted their goodbyes to each other as they each walked home.

_OK, so we'd survived our first mission as a team. And no, that wasn't the big problem I got us all into. That one's still to come. But for now, everything seemed to be going great, with the exception of Wild Card Bruce. We didn't know for sure what he was gonna do, but I hoped and believed that in the end he'd join us for good. But anyway, we had lot more stuff to do before we were doing the best we could. After all, we're still in training pretty much._

**Dr. Regal's lair**

"That's it!!" Dr. Regal shouted. "I've found their weakness!" he declared after listening intently to Burnerman's report. "It's their teamwork. They work as a team and cover each other's individual weaknesses."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Mr. Yuri asked.

"The most natural thing," Dr. Regal replied calmly. "Split up the team…"

* * *

Ah, yes, but now the question becomes just how is he going to do that? And as usual, I'm not going to tell you a single thing except that you should review. Have fun with that! 


End file.
